


The maximum Rewrite.

by Evilkat23



Category: Drachenreiter | Dragon Rider - Cornelia Funke
Genre: Action/Adventure, Aged-Up Character(s), Ben is not dating the vampire, Half-Vampires, M/M, Minor Swearing, Minor Violence, Original Character(s), SO MANY OC's, Slow Burn, Vampires
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-15
Updated: 2017-12-15
Packaged: 2019-02-15 02:02:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 31,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13020891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Evilkat23/pseuds/Evilkat23
Summary: Okay, I'm going to be honest here. This started as a rewrite. It's now a reimagining of my four dragon rider stories starting with "Out of the frying pan." and ending with "Into the fire." This still follows the same plot but with new twists and turns. I hope you enjoy as much as I do.





	1. Chapter 1

Benjamin Greenbloom aged well over the last five years. He's grown taller, happier, and more outgoing than all those years ago. He wasn't the only one who's grown well over the last years, Guinevere became more womanly, taller, she and Ben were practically the same height at this point. Her hair becoming longer than when she was ten, now she constantly had to have her hair up in a ponytail. In fact, everyone grew over the years, Barnabas and Vita both started to become gray in the hair, older in general, and Barnabas was even trying to grow a goatee, the results were rather mixed amongst the family.

Then, there was Twigleg. The little manikin, who was immortal until Ben meets his untimely demise, he does not age, he doesn't grow old, he doesn't get wrinkles like the older Greenblooms, nope, he was the same as he was five years ago. Same height and everything. Even Sorrel and Firedrake, whom they've seen repeatedly over the years, grown more. Firedrake's horns becoming longer, his eyes always getting a new little spark in them every time. Sorrel's fur becoming more adapted to the cold mountain air, being thicker and bushier. Just little things about them changed.

All and all, it made Twigleg rather curious at times watching his once young master grow older and older each day. Being a slave to Nettlebrand, another previously thought to be immortal being, Twigleg has never seen an age progression so fast, it baffled and scared him. Ben will soon become 'master' then he will become 'old master' and finally-

Twigleg sucked in a deep breath and knocked his tiny fist against his skull. He did not want to think of that. Yes, humans age, so quickly, and were rather fragile as well, of course, that means a lot coming from someone who is the size of a coke bottle, but it was true. Ben once broke his arm when he was twelve because someone convinced him to climb a tree to the top. It scared Twigleg seeing the X-ray of Ben's broken arm, of course, it healed with time. It also made Twigleg more curious about Ben's friends.

'Friends'. Twigleg didn't care for Ben's 'friends' nowadays. Ben didn't have many. There was Justin, some kid in his math class, apparently someone who doesn't want to do his own work as he, according to Ben, likes to cheat off of Ben during class. That's how they met and oddly became friends. Ben, at the start of the year, became frustrated and called Justin out in the middle of a test as loud as possible. Surprisingly, Justin decided after that that he and Ben became friends. It was... an odd relationship the two had.

Then, there was Atticus. Nobody really knew Atticus, not even Ben. Twigleg met him once, and only once. When Ben invited him over for dinner. Twigleg, who had been hiding during dinner, had such a bad vibe from the man. He was rather old, too old to be hanging out with a fifteen-year-old. Atticus was twenty-one, at least, that's what he told them, but it wasn't true. He was lying, Twigleg didn't know how he knew that in all honesty, maybe it was the fact that the moment Atticus stepped through the door it made Twigleg's head and body itch. Twigleg knew one other thing that caught him off guard: The professor hated Atticus almost instantly.

After dinner, Twigleg had left for a few moments to catch some flies around the house to eat, when he came back it was only Barnabas and Atticus alone in the dining room, everyone else had run off to do something real quick. Twigleg didn't hear much of their conversation, all he heard was the end which was Barnabas saying,

"-If you don't get out of my house right now, I will light you on fire where you stand."

Then, that was the last he ever saw of Atticus. Just the man heading for the door. Ben had come back with his backpack, confused as to where Atticus went. Barnabas just patted Ben's head, and then after that, they had a long talk about Atticus. Barnabas only told Ben: "He's too old to be hanging around a teenager, I don't trust him, Benjamin. Please don't hang out with him anymore."

Twigleg honestly believed Ben would listen to the professor, and never see Atticus again, but, that wasn't the case. Turns out Atticus isn't one to give up so easily. The professor tried the police, but there was nothing they could do about it, as every time they came by, Atticus was gone so there was no proof. Of course, because they both went to school with each other it was almost impossible for Ben to not see the older man. Honestly, it made Twigleg wonder why the professor didn't get a restraining order against the other, but it hasn't come to that yet.

Twigleg softly exhaled as he looked up at the daylight peeking through the curtains of the windows in the dining room. Twigleg yawned loudly as he helped himself to some flies and gnats for his breakfast.

During the summer the flies and gnats were plentiful, however; during the winter seasons, Twigleg often had to rely on Ben to get him crickets or mealworms from the local pet store. One time Ben came back from the mall with Guinevere, and he had somehow managed to get Twigleg a lollipop with a cricket right in the center of it. It was yummy but way too sweet for Twigleg, It took him a month to finish that treat.

Zooming back into reality, Twigleg happily went back to eat the fly he caught. The fly was plump, so it should satisfy him until lunch time.

"Good morning, Twigleg." Vita greeted him as she walked into the kitchen, turning the kitchen light on, she huddled warmly into her robe as she started to make coffee.

"Good morning, Mrs. Greenbloom. Did you sleep well?" Twigleg responded as he hid his mouth behind his hand as he chewed the rest of his fly up.

"Twigleg, we talked about this. You can call me Vita, you know." Vita told him softly, She sat down beside him as she waited for her coffee to brew. "Ben and Guinevere should be waking up here shortly," Vita observed softly as she looked outside at the dawn slowly rising.

"It's almost six, they won't be up for another hour. Shame I can't come along with them to school. So much has changed over the years!"

"Hm. I guess so. They don't bring you along?" She asked him as she lightly patted his hair.

"I have to be a secret, remember? I can't be seen, especially in a big school like theirs."

"What? I'm sure they would have brought you along if you just asked," Vita told him softly as she suddenly got up to make her a cup of coffee.

"I'd just be hiding the whole time, it's no fun really." Twigleg shrugged weakly as Vita came back with her coffee.

"I'll raise you this, what fun is being alone?" Vita questioned him softly as she smirked behind her mug. Twigleg crossed his legs where he sat and only looked at her, she simply smiled at him as she blew on her hot drink to cool it down. Twigleg couldn't help but frown at the question given to him, he wasn't alone. He still had Ben and Guinevere, yeah, they both had human friends, but he wasn't alone. He just didn't see them as often as he used to. That's all.

* * *

The sound of bubbling was all that could be heard as a woman simply stood over her brewing cauldron, humming softly, the woman walked over to the cupboard pulled out a large mason jar of what looked like fine red sand. Walking back over to the bubbling cauldron, she dumped the entire contents of the jar into her brew. The brew, that was once an ugly green turned cherry red and eventually the liquid melted, turning the contents into the gritty sand. Grabbing the mason jar, she filled it up to the brim with the sandy brew, and silently she put the mason jar down, sealing it with a lid. She loudly clapped her hands together.

"Useless! Get down here and clean this mess up!" The woman finally spoke as she marched to the basement door and opened it, screaming to the upstairs.

"As you wish." A man's voice simply puts it as the figure emerged down the stairs and over towards her. The man said nothing else as he started to put the fire out from under the cauldron.

"Are you going to ask?" The woman asked him rather bitterly as she held the jar protectively.

"I guess I could. What's the plan this time?" The man asked disinterestedly as he gently grabbed a bucket of water from a nearby sink.

"Well, I'm glad you finally asked," She put it plainly, if not snobbishly towards the other as she held the mason jar close to her chest. "The Dragon's are out and about if you haven't guessed it by now. One found in Scotland, two found in America, and three in Russia. Of course, the people only plainly put it off as a hoax, except for one who got an up close and personal with the one dragon and Scotland, but, they're none of my concern for now. No, my real goal has been the silver dragons."

"It's only a miracle why..." The man sarcastically put it as he started to move the cauldron cautiously off of the logs. Still touching the hot metal with gloved hands, the heat clearly not bothering him as he continued to push the cauldron away.

"Hush. The silver dragons are just what I need. I'm old and dying, I can't keep burning the candle at both ends to just survive. These bodies, they aren't strong enough to keep me stable," The woman looked up at the ceiling of the basement as she suddenly moved her shirt up, showing an old rotten scar, blackened, maggots festering on the wound that lay just below her breast. "If I were human, I'd be dead ten times over."

"If you were human, you would have gone to the hospital to care for that wound, like a normal human would have, instead of letting it rot, fester, and just become all out nasty." The man simply huffed bitterly towards the woman as he now started to pick up the smoldering fire logs with little to no problem.

"I said. Hush." She ordered bitterly as she dropped her shirt down. "It doesn't matter. This body is dying at a faster rate than I can heal it. I need a stronger body I need the body of a dragon rider!"

"Sooo... The boy from Scotland?"

"No, you fool! I'm talking about Benjamin Greenbloom. He's the one whose body can help me, I can live forever in his body, I'm sure of it, but, there's another reason I need his body. That's for the dragons. If I can get my hands on their horns. Dragon horns may make gold, but, powdered, and put into a brew. Then you got the elixir of life right there," She breathed out softly as she held the mason jar close to her like it was her lifeline. "I've been only barely getting by with rhino horns, elephant horns, and practically any animal with a horn... but it never worked, the wound still stays; because only a dragon horn can help me maintain my life. Plus, it'll be nice to be able to get my hand on a dragon tooth as well. Those will be helpful for... 'Other' projects." She shrugged as she finally placed the mason jar down.

"So, what's with the red dehydrated Kool-Aid in a jar?" He asked her as he finished putting away the logs.

"This... Is for Twigleg. To distract from me, you see, I need to get close to Benjamin, and with a proper distraction, then I can get all I need to make the brew I need in order to steal Benjamin's body," She muttered as she held her head proud and high in the air. "No matter... Continue cleaning up, I have been planning to do. When you are done, I will need you for other chores."

"Of course, Celeste,"

Grabbing her mason jar she hurried off upstairs, leaving the man behind to clean up the mess. With a smile, she placed the jar on her table. Walking over to her living room, she paused and groaned out, holding her wound tightly in her fist.

"Cursed half-blood!" She groaned lowly as she lifted her shirt up once more. "I'll be picking maggots out of this wound all week..." She breathed out as she lowered her shirt once more. "Zenith!" She cried as she marched to the basement door once more.

"Yes, mistress?" Zenith asked as he opened the door, leaning tiredly against the doorframe as he just looked at her up and down. He had one arm draped over his head against the wall while he had his legs crossed.

"Go into town..." she paused and grimaced before grabbing her wallet out of her back pocket and shoving some money into his hands. "Get me some rubbing alcohol, tweezers, and..." She paused to think.

"A lizard to eat those maggots off of your chest?" He asked with a smirk, his pearly white fangs poking out of his mouth ever so slightly as he laughed at his own joke.

"Idiot! You will stop making fun of me this instant!" She snapped as she suddenly slapped him across the face. "... Syringes... I need syringes."

"Making me look like an addict. I see. Consider it done." He rolled his eyes as he looked at the money and pocketed it. "Anything else?"

"No. That will be all." She sneered at him.

He only chuckled as he shut the door to the basement.

"What are you laughing at?" She demanded as she followed his movement towards the door. Zenith grabbed a scarf off the rack and started to wrap it around his neck as he only looked at her.

"You've literally made a poison that can kill men in under milliseconds, I've seen you two one man into a- I don't know what... congealed mass of body parts, I guess. Yet, you need rubbing alcohol to kill the pest currently festering under your skin at the moment. I just find it rather amusing,"

"Any brew I put on my skin will cause me to deteriorate and decompose faster than I already have. You know this," She growled as she put her index finger right in his face.

"I know. I also find it funny how out everything to cause you to shut yourself in, is the very vampire you used to create me. "

"... I do not fear the half-blood."

"You haven't left this house since you found out he's been out and about again, looking for you. So... I guess I do have a question. You have plans on distracting Benjamin, what about the vampire? Hm?"

"Just get what I asked, Useless." Celeste snapped before turning and walking into the living room. Zenith only shook his head,

"As you wish, Mistress."

"And go to the store out of town! The last thing we need is for you to run into that vampire so soon. You're not ready to take him on."

"... As you wish."

* * *

Ben loudly chewed on his breakfast cereal, as he sat in the school cafeteria. He could have eaten at home if he hadn't forgotten to set his alarm for the morning. Taking another spoonful of cereal into his mouth, he let out a startled yelp when milk started to drip down his chin. Grabbing napkins, he quickly started to wipe the milk off of his chin, before he went back to chewing.

"Having a little trouble keeping your food in your mouth?" Came a familiar sultry voice. Atticus was now in front of Ben, one leg crossed over the other as he watched Ben. His blue eyes having an odd spark behind them as he watched Ben. Atticus had a rather nice, if not older looking, gray three piece suit, er-... two piece suit, as it seemed the man was missing the jacket. On each hand, he had three big bulky rings that made him look way older than he truly was. Ben found himself transfixed on one of the rings on Atticus's hand. It seemed to be a dragon that wrapped around his finger.

"Having a little trouble respecting my father's wishes?" Ben finally challenged back as he shoveled another spoonful in his mouth, breaking his gaze away from the ring.

"You haven't told me to go away, tell me, and I'll leave you be," Atticus smirked as he rested his head against his open palm just watching Ben eat. Ben chewed his cereal, and just shook his head at Atticus with a sigh.

"You don't want me to go away. I know you don't," Atticus smiled as he lightly gave Ben a punch in the arm. Ben only gave Atticus a smile before shaking his head softly at the older man.

"What can I say? You're too interesting and mysterious for me to turn away," Ben continued to smile as he downed his milk and stood up. "Now, Mr. Noel, if you don't mind. I have to go and get to class. Good day." Ben finished as he turned and threw his empty plastic bowl out.

"Mysterious and Interesting? Huh, that's a first." Atticus hummed out as he silently toyed one of the bulky rings, twirling it around his middle finger absent mindedly. Looking forward, paying the other students no mind as he just daydreamed off as he continued to twirl the ring, he only smirked proudly to himself as an idea sprung into his mind. "I know what I have to do." Getting up from his seat in a hurry, Atticus briskly walked towards Ben, seeing Ben at his locker, sitting on the ground reading, Atticus saw this as a perfect moment to talk to him, he had to stop when he felt someone tap his shoulder. Turning around, rather irritated, he saw it, Guinevere.

"Hello, Mr. Noel, nice weather we're having today, isn't it?" Guinevere asked him rather smugly before he could answer, she felt the need to continue, "Yes, it's perfect, if you don't like the sunlight that is. All the clouds blocking the sun so thickly you'd think it's night time-"

"Ms. Guinevere, is there anything you need?" He asked her, his voice clearly having a bit of a bite to eat.

"Oh, no, no. I just wanted to strike up a conversation with you."

"Is that so?" Atticus asked as he leaned against a nearby locker looking her up and down.

"Yes, you know, Mrs. Flitz's band class has started learning how to do a new song?"

"Uh-huh."

"The vampire waltz."

"Yep, Got it."

"Oh, I'm not done."

"Why would you be?"

"I know what you are."

"Really?! I couldn't tell by all the jokes you were just making a moment ago!" Atticus feigned surprise rather dramatically towards her. "Seriously, Ms. Greenbloom. Back. Off. You know nothing about me." Atticus found himself snapping at her in a deadly tone as he made sure he and she were eye level with one another. They maintained eye contact for a good ten seconds with one another until Atticus was the one to break away, deciding to talk to Ben later he just wanted to get away from her. So with his back turned, he walked the opposite way from Ben, much to his dismay, he really wanted to talk to Ben.

"You're a monster, is what you are." Guinevere suddenly snapped. It felt like the whole hallway just went on pause for a moment as everyone stopped what they were doing to look at the two. Harsh whispered broke out amongst the other students. Atticus felt his head slowly turn around to look at her, the girl had gull. There she stood bravely before him, head high, daring him to respond to her brazenness.

"Well... Ms. Guinevere, I'm sorry you see that about me. I'm honestly just trying to finish something I started a very long time ago. I wasn't aware that was such a horrible thing to do." Atticus spoke softly to her before turning, his head down as he walked away from her. Atticus wasn't exactly lying, he was only there to finish something he started a very, very long time ago, and Ben was the key to finishing what he started, and he wasn't going to lose him. Not again.


	2. Chapter 2

Ben hummed softly as he started to put his books away in his locker. It was time to walk home, maybe he'll get to the petrol station and spend a quid or two on a candy bar.

"Ahem..."

Ben had a bit of a craving for a mars bars. Shutting his eyes, Ben wondered how Firedrake was doing, hopefully, his dragon friend was doing well. Sorrel was probably eating all the mushrooms she could find. Sorrel was also probably keeping Firedrake company as well, those two were inseparable. He missed them both. Ben could only hope that this school year goes by fast.

"A-hem." His locker suddenly shuts in front of him causing Ben to jump back. Then suddenly another face got into his face. "Hello, Benjamin."

Hearing a giggle to his left, Ben turned his head to See Guinevere standing there. He then turned back to the girl in front of his locker. It was Ayana, Aya, Gene. Guinevere's friend. Aya smiled at Ben and twirled a piece of her blonde hair around her finger as she smiled at him, chewing her gum rather loudly at him. Looking at him up and down. She then moved her neck a little to show off her new tattoo choker as she smiled flirtatiously at Ben.

"Yes, Aya?" Ben finally questioned her.

"I need help with a history project, and I was told that you were the one to go to." Aya smiled at him as she felt the need to get a little closer to him.

"Uh, yeah, I know a bit of history. Whatcha need?" He asked her with a smile.

"Oh, there is just sooo much I need, but, I would like it if maybe I could come on over for tea and we could... review the latest chapter." Aya smiled as she once again felt the need to get closer to him.

"Uhhhh, well, I don't know if I can. Aya, I have a big test that I have to study for myself. Maybe Guin can help you with the latest chapters," Ben told her softly as he backed away from her, he started feeling rather uncomfortable.

"O-Oh, well, maybe some other time? Like over the weekend?"

"I... I don't know, maybe, I have to go now, bye Aya." Ben quickly escorted himself away from Aya with an awkward laugh. He heard a bitter 'hmph!' leave Aya's mouth as he rushed away.

* * *

Twigleg let out a soft hum as he lightly dangled his legs off of the kitchen counter, giving his legs little kicks as he watched the clock on the wall. Finally, the clock hit 3 o' clock, and Twigleg grinned happily. Ben and Guinevere should be home right about... now.

The door opened, and Benjamin came through just by himself.

" 'Ello, Twigleg, don't tell me you were waiting for me again," Ben smiled as he shut the door behind him.

"Young master! You're back!"

"I always come back, Twigleg, and you know I don't like being called that," Ben told Twigleg with a smile as he happily picked his friend up. Twigleg smiled back at Ben and hugged Ben's face affectionately. "Twigleg, you always act like I'm not going to come home one day."

"You're gone for so long! I never know if you're going to come home or not." Twigleg admitted softly.

"I'll always come home for you, Twigleg."

"Hey! I was thinking tonight, maybe we could watch the fairies, you, me, Guin-"

"Oh, Twigleg, I'm sorry. I normally would, but I have a big test I have to study for tonight, and Guinevere is off at dance practice until six." Ben sadly told his friend.

"I could help you study!"

"Twigleg..." Ben spoke slowly to his friend.

"... No?"

"No. I need to do this on my own, otherwise, I won't learn. I'm sorry."

"No, it's fine, I understand..." Twigleg sighed his eyes downcast.

"Sorry, Twigleg, once summer comes, we'll be able to spend more time together," Ben explained as he gently put Twigleg down on the dining table.

"Yeah, I understand. So, when are Barnabas and Vita getting home, again?" Twigleg questioned Ben.

"Sometime around seven, I believe. If you need anything, you know where to find me." Ben softly poked Twigleg in the nose before taking off to his room to study.

"Yeah... study hard..." Twigleg frowned as Ben was soon gone away. With a frown, he turned and walked away sadly. It seemed like yesterday Ben and Guin were begging him to translate what the fairies were saying to them, but now...

Carefully jumping down from the table, Twigleg then used the twine tied to counter to climb up to the counter and make his exit out the of the small kitchen window. Going to the table on the outside by cautiously dangling on some old Christmas lights that lead to the table, Twigleg dropped down on the glass table and sat down on a tiny doll chair. It was still broad daylight out, but he didn't mind.

One day, Ben was going to go to college and probably have to leave Twigleg behind because he'll be off in a dorm with other people, and eventually he'll have a family as his own, and-

Twigleg stopped himself and sucked a deep breath to try and calm his anxiety. That wasn't true, Ben would never leave him, however; Twigleg just couldn't help but think that one day, Ben will totally forget about him and that'll just break his tiny little heart to pieces.

"Aw, Poor wittle, Twiggy."

"AH!" Twigleg let out a shriek and fell out of his tiny doll chair in freight. There was someone, a woman? Maybe, judging by the person's voice. The woman was fully clothed head to toe in a black a robe, blocking her face off from Twigleg's view. She even wore black gloves that hid her hands from him as well. "Who?! What-"

"Shush, shush, shhh... just sit down darling." She spoke softly to Twigleg, her words twisting and writhing around in his mind, he wanted to ignore her and demand just who she was, but instead, he found himself slowly taking his seat once again. He looked at the woman with wide eyes. "Now, I bet you're wondering who I am, and why I'm currently in the Greenbloom's back yard? Hm? Well, I'm not telling you that."

Twigleg wanted to scream for Ben, call for help, anything, but he couldn't.

"Oh? Benny? Don't worry about him, he's inside, studying like the good student he is." She told Twigleg, it didn't help his anxiety about the situation. She knew where Ben was, and what he was doing. "You don't have to be scared of me, Twigleg. I mean you no harm. I know that you feel alone, and Ben growing up isn't helping you in any way, you poor thing."

Her words were twisting, turning, and echoing around his head, it made him feel so light headed, but he couldn't help but listen to her words as she talked to him. Gently she patted his head with her gloved hands. "Don't worry, love, you haven't been forgotten, and I'm going to make sure you aren't forgotten," She quickly reached into her pocket, and pour something into the palm of her hand. It seems to glitter in the sunlight in the palm of her hand. "Turn your head towards me, darling." Twigleg didn't want to, but, he soon realized he was doing as she asked. He absolutely hated it, but he couldn't stop himself from doing it as he words just seemed to control him.

Then suddenly the woman blew the powder in Twigleg's face. Twigleg felt the powder go up to his nose, the grittiness of the sand irritated his nose. It also went into his eyes, making them water horribly, and sting as well.

"You can go now." The woman spoke slowly as she stood. Twigleg let out a sudden shriek and started to rub his eyes as he was now free from whatever spell the woman had him under. Twigleg felt his nose and eyes get hotter and hotter with each passing second. Tears ran down his face as he continuously rubbed his eyes trying his hardest to get whatever was blown into his face out. Crying out in pain, Twigleg backed up, and suddenly his balance was lost-

* * *

Ben lightly tapped his pencil as he read the pages to his history book. With a frown, he let out a slight puff of air as he stood up from his desk. He felt a tad bad about leaving Twigleg alone to study poor Twigleg seemed to have his tiny heart set on watching the fairies. What's an hour of his time to look at the fairies like when he was a kid?

Opening his bedroom door. Ben walked out into the living room. "Twigleg?" He called out as he looked around for his friend. "Twigleg?" Ben called out a little louder when he didn't see Twigleg on the kitchen table and pursed his lips in thought.

"Where the..." Ben walked over to the sliding glass door and paused, his mouth a gape as he saw, what he first thought to be some drunk man laying in the backyard. Ben was quick to realize that the person laying in the yard, was not a drunk man. With shaky fingers, Ben opened the sliding glass door and slowly stepped out.

Walking around the unconscious man, Ben examined the man. Pale skin, bright red hair, long legs, and arms. Ben got down on one knee. Lightly he put his hand on the man's back.

"... Twigleg?" He asked slightly startled by the own shakiness in his voice. Shaking the now fully sized Twigleg, Ben felt his mind racing a million miles per as he started to shake Twigleg harder. "Twigleg!" He yelled now.

How was Twigleg big?! What happened while Ben was studying? How was he bigger now?! Why was he bigger now?!

" _Twigleg!"_ Ben demanded as he stopped shaking Twigleg and started to pull at his own hair in pure panic. For a moment his heart seemed to leap out of his chest as he thought that maybe Twigleg was dead. Trying to keep himself calm, Ben grabbed one of Twigleg's hands and started to pull. Twigleg was heavy, heavier than Ben ever expected. Managing to pull Twigleg half way up Ben let out a loud grunt as he draped Twigleg over his shoulder. Now with his friend half on half off of Ben's shoulders, Ben did his best to walk back inside the house. Dragging Twigleg inside, Ben felt like he was about to fall flat on his face as he struggled to keep Twigleg up on his back. His legs shook as he managed to get inside, however, he soon met the floor as his legs finally buckled. Falling flat on his face with human sized Twigleg on his back, Ben honestly had no clue what to do now.

That was when the front door opened, Guinevere walked on it, she was home early. Ben didn't need to say anything, as soon as Guinevere looked up she dropped her bookbag and dancers bag in shock. Both bags landed on the ground with a hard 'Thud'. Her jaw was dropped to the ground as she blinked, and then she rubbed her eyes to verify that she was indeed seeing what she was seeing.

"Yeah, a little help here... please." Ben finally spoke his voice strained under Twigleg's surprising heavy weight.

"... What...-"

"Ask later! Please!" Ben cut her off with an urgent shout.

Guinevere finally rushed over and helped get Twigleg up. Together the two of them walked into Ben's room and gently laid Twigleg down on the bed. Once Twigleg was safely on the bed, Guinevere turned to Ben demanding an explanation.

"I don't know! I... I left him alone, came back, and he was laying in the yard fully sized!" Ben yelled at her, he didn't mean to yell, but he was just so confused and in a mid panic at the moment.

"What do you mean you left him alone?"

"I- he wanted to watch the fairies, I told him I had to study, and left him to it. I came back and... Oh god... " Ben started to tug on his hair again and Guinevere lightly grabbed Ben's hands, and sat him down in his desk chair.

"Breathe... It's alright. We'll get this figured out, okay?" Guinevere told him as then glanced over at Twigleg sleeping soundly. At least he looked like he was sleeping. While Ben was still trying to stay sane, Guinevere walked over and carefully watched Twigleg's chest. She held her own breath as she watched his chest intensely. Finally, his chest rise and fell at a safe rate and she relaxed a bit. Turning back to Ben she gently tapped him and ushered him outside of the room. Gently shutting the door she could only look at Ben, who looked back at her, and with the utmost certainty, she spoke the only thing on her mind,

"Mom and Dad are going to flip."

* * *

Twigleg let out a low groan as he half opened his eyes. He couldn't see a thing from under his damp eyelashes, he felt horrible. His body was freezing cold, his throat felt like he had swallowed a handful of sand, and he felt like he weighed ten times heavier than normal. Groaning again, Twigleg slowly shifted his body on to his side and hugged his pillow to his head. Burying his head into the softness of the pillow. It didn't feel the same, his pillows, being doll pillows, were often rather scratchy in their fabric, but now they felt, decent, nice.

"... Twigleg?"

Hearing Ben's uneasy voice, Twigleg perked his head up, yes, he still felt sick, but Ben wanted him. So he shifted his head to turn and look at Ben. Something was... off. He couldn't think of what it was, but something just didn't seem right at all. Ben was looking at him rather oddly as well.

"Are you alright?" Ben asked him softly if not cautiously.

"I really don't..." Twigleg paused for a second to cough, his voice was hoarse and rough, he thought coughing would make it better, but it just caused him to go into a coughing fit. He felt Ben's hand on his shoulder and stopped for a moment to look up at Ben once more.

It was at that moment that Twigleg knew what was weird. He wasn't in his tiny matchbox of bed with tiny doll pillows, he was in Ben's bed, taking up the entirety of it, currently cuddling with one of Ben's pillows. Twigleg wanted to sit up as fast as he could, he wanted to ask as many questions as his brain could fathom to Ben at the moment, but his current fever slowed him down. All he could do was just turn his head and look at Ben.

"You clearly need more sleep," Ben simply spoke as he pulled the covers over Twigleg. Ben also felt the need to put his hand on Twigleg's forehead, "You're burning up."

"I... I don't-"

"I know, look, get some sleep, I'm more worried about your well being than you being... well... " Ben only gestured towards Twigleg awkwardly.

"We're home!" Came a should from downstairs.

"Besides... I have to break the news to Mom and Dad... get some rest, then we'll try and figure this all out."

Twigleg wanted to protest, but like before his mind was too slow due to the fever and before he could get his mouth open, Ben was gone. Twigleg turned his head and started to cough once again, his coughs loud and vicious as his whole body seems to shake from them. He could feel it, something was lodged in the back of his throat. The more he coughed the more he felt it move up until finally, he felt it was safe enough to spit it out on the palm of his hand.

Truthfully, Twigleg had no clue what he just spat up. It was dark red in color and when he smeared it with his thumb against his palm it felt course like sand, it seemed to almost glitter in the light of the room as well, it was odd. It dried up quickly, too quickly really. As soon as it dried up the red color drained from it and it crumbled into dust right in front of him.

"... What?" Was all Twigleg could ask, however, he started to feel rather sleepy. Cuddling up next to the pillow once again, Twigleg rested his head and shut his eyes.

* * *

"-Yes, of course. I need more time... she's-"

"Who are you talking to?" Celeste demanded as she came through the front door. She pulled her hood down as she silently jerked her gloves off and tossed them to him. He hung up his flip phone and caught the gloves.

"Just someone teaching me how to use a computer."

"You don't need to know how to use a computer, your job is to listen what I say, and do as I say, am I clear?" She asked as she crossed her arms bitterly at him. She then held out her palm. "Give it." She ordered him to do.

"Mis-"

"Give it! You don't need to be distracted by all this technology," She snapped, Zenith seemed to be grinding his teeth as he handed over the flip phone from his pocket. "Where did you even get this thing? Did you steal from the high schoolers again?" Celeste took the phone in her hands and flipped it open and in one violent movement, she managed to break the phone in half. She then threw the phone into the trash. "Now. You are going to listen to me, listen to me now. I don't know where this love of modern technology even came from with you, but forget it. I turned the manikin bigger and right now you don't need to be distracted! Do I make myself clear?" She asked him in a dark voice as she got closer to his face.

"... Yes, mistress."

"Good. Now, there is much to plan, and much to do, follow." She ordered with a whistle like he was a dog. Zenith had a visible frown on his face as he followed her for about a few steps. The dumb witch didn't even notice he stopped. Once she turned and left him upstairs, Zenith fished through the trash and pulled out the two halves of the flip phone. He could only sigh out as he looked at the wiring.

"I can fix this..." He mumbled to himself as he pocketed the two halves. He had to fix it, there was no way he could really steal another one anyway.

_" Useless_ _!"_  Celeste roared from the basement making him turn and stroll quickly downwards towards her.

"Coming, mistress."

"Now, the dragon rider will be officially distracted in trying to make Twigleg his right size again," Celeste started as she walked over to her shelf of mystical items and pulled the crystal ball down. Gently she sat it down on the nearby table. Together the two of them leaned in as she suddenly snapped her fingers. Ben appeared in the crystal ball, he was talking to his adoptive father in a fast matter, probably about Twigleg. "Very distracted," Celeste smirked.

"What do you need me?"

"Supplies."

"Of course..." Zenith spat, causing Celeste to shoot him a nasty look. "I mean... Of course!" He faked happiness. Celeste only glared at him before huffing out.

"Here," She shoved a list into his hands. "Find all that. I need those supplies before I get my hands on that dragon rider."

Zenith looked at the list and sighed. "I'll get it for you. Mistress."

"Now. Go." Celeste ordered as she pushed Zenith out of the basement. "I have planning to do..." She slammed the door behind him, and all Zenith did be just turn to face the door. With his index, middle finger, and thumb he pointed at the door and mocked firing a gun through the door. Zenith only smirked,

"Soon..."


	3. Chapter 3

Atticus whistled as he put his textbooks into his locker. Honestly, he didn't even need these books anymore, but he needed to make these teachers happy, especially since a couple of them have him on their radars for his age. If only they truly knew. Shutting his locker, Atticus jumped at the site of Ben looking at him.

"... Don't do that," Atticus breathed out as he put a hand on his chest. Not like his heart was beating anyway, but still.

"..."

"Everything alright?" Atticus asked him. Ben only looked at him, his blue eyes filled with worry. Ben said nothing as he just blankly walked past Atticus. "Ben?" Without hesitating, Atticus grabbed Ben's arm stopping him. "What's wrong?" Atticus asked him. Ben only looked down at Atticus's hand around his wrist and then back at Atticus.

"Nothing," Was all Ben said as he took his arm out of Atticus's grip, and rubbed where Atticus had him. He then walked away from Atticus, still looking rather blankly down at where Atticus had touched him.

"Odd..." Atticus muttered softly. Turning around, he jumped again, "What is with you Greenblooms?" He asked Guinevere who had been standing behind him.

"I know you did it," Guinevere whispered darkly to Atticus. Atticus only blinked at her,

"What are you talking about?" Atticus asked her as he put a hand on his hip. Guinevere scowled, and put her finger up into his face,

"Rubbish! don't act so coy-"

"Hey," Both of them stopped and turned to see Justin walking forward. "What's up with Ben? He's just staring at his locker... not even opening it, just... looking at it." Justin pointed his thumb towards Ben just a few yards away, sure enough just staring blankly at his locker.

Atticus felt a surge of anxiety hit him like a wave, he's never seen Ben like that before. He went to take a step forward, but suddenly, Guinevere, the brave woman she was, pushed Atticus back quickly and practically raced over towards her brother. Atticus watched as Guinevere and Ben talked for a moment, before his sister walked away together, not before Guinevere turned her head to shoot Atticus a glare as if to say, 'I'm not done with you.'

Frowning, Atticus then narrowed his eyes. Keeping quiet, he followed the duo, leaving Justin behind as he did so. He kept a few paces behind the two, making sure that Guinevere didn't see him. Suddenly, Guinevere turned, and the two of them went into an empty classroom. Atticus frowned bitterly as the door shut behind them, so there was no way he could hear them. Frowning, Atticus let out a soft 'hmph' and turned away from the door. "Fine then," Was Atticus's response to the shut door. Reaching into his pocket, he took out his car keys. "I guess I'll have to pay their home a visit then."

* * *

Twigleg looked up at the ceiling, he had just woken up. He honestly hoped that what happened last night was a dream, but, he knew by the blanket wrapped around his body, that wasn't his own and the fact that when he turned his head to the side, Barnabas was just sitting on a dining chair, staring at him.

"... Hello." Was all Twigleg could say as he stared back at the professor.

"I don't... get it," Barnabas spoke chewing on his thumbnail in thought as he continued to stare at Twigleg. "I just don't get it. I went through every book we own, scrolled through every forum online, I tried everything, but nothing told me a thing. Nothing. I have no clue how this became possible," Barnabas finished as he spat out his thumbnail on the carpet. "So, now that you're up... how did this happen?"

Twigleg sat up a bit more now, he tried to rack his brain, but... nothing came up. How did this happen? He remembered being outside, then... nothing. Just nothing. "I... don't remember," Twigleg confessed softly. Looking at the blanket, he sat there confused. "I really don't remember... I was outside then... I woke up here."

The professor let out a soft sigh as he looked defeated. "Of course... how are you feeling? I'm sorry," He snapped out of it, and focused on Twigleg.

"Odd... very odd."

"Can you stand?"

Twigleg nodded, slowly shifting out of Ben's bed. Twigleg sat up on the edge of the bed for a few seconds. Finally, he pushed himself up. His knees wobbled then suddenly buckled from under him. The professor bolted up from the chair and grabbed Twigleg's arm stopping him from falling.

Being bigger made Twigleg feel insanely dizzy. His head spun as he looked at the room. He figured Ben's room was gigantic, but with his bigger size, Twigleg realized that as not the case. Everything looked so small. When he was tiny, it would take about ten minutes for him to walk from the nightstand to the door, now, he'd get there in just one or two strides. Granted if he ever truly got use to the long, long spider-like legs he now had.

"I..."

"Sit." Barnabas helped Twigleg sit back down on the bed. Putting his hand on his head, Twigleg took in a few deep breaths. Rubbing his legs, hoping that would help, he then looked up at Barnabas.

"... Everything looks so different," Twigleg observed the room a bit more, it was so odd to be able to see the top of Ben's work desk without actually standing on it. He felt like a giant! Blinking he looked back at the professor. He was unsure of what to say after that.

"... Where is Ben?" Twigleg finally asked.

"School. Along with Guinevere. I had to practically force them out of the door. I know he wanted to stay with you, but we had no clue how long you'd be asleep for, I mean he already missed school yesterday, so, I figured that school would be the best place for him-"

"He went to school yesterday."

"Twigleg... you've been asleep for a day and a half."

"... " Twigleg only looked at his hands for a moment, before looking back at Barnabas. Twigleg knew his mouth was agape, but he just couldn't think of anything to say at that moment. The professor let out a soft sigh as he then stood and extended his hand.

"C'mon, let's try and get those legs working," Barnabas smiled as he helped Twigleg to his feet. Twigleg's knees wobbled with each step, but slowly his legs felt stronger, and by the time they got to the dining table he was able to walk on his own. Nobody else was in the house aside from the two of them. Getting to the nearest seat. Twigleg sat down and looked at the palm of his hand. There was something dried up on his hand, white in color, and rough like sand. Silently he moved his thumb across the dried substance it crumbled instantly, leaving him curious.

Looking up at Barnabas, Twigleg only sighed as he then looked around the home. For years he figured this place to be the equivalent of a mansion, everything was so much bigger to him as a tiny homunculus, but now being taller and bigger, he realized that the home was rather small. At least smaller than he ever thought it'd be. "This is insane..." Was all he could breathe out in thought as he looked about the dining room.

"I know, I keep telling myself the same thing. How are you feeling?" Barnabas asked Twigleg.

"Not too bad, at least I don't feel ill anymore."

"That's good. We need to figure out who did this to you. You have no memories, but you were outside when it happened. Ben even confirmed that." Barnabas mumbled as he started to pace back and forth in front of Twigleg. "But what could have done it? Another fabulous creature of course... but nothing can honestly come to my mind at the moment." Barnabas hummed in thought as he stopped pacing for a moment.

"... I wish I could be more help..." Twigleg finally spoke, breaking the silence between the two of them.

"No, if you don't remember, you don't remember, dear Twigleg." Barnabas responded simply. Finally, with a sigh, Barnabas gave a weak shrug, "I guess, the most we can do right now is maybe step outside to see if it jogs your memory."

Twigleg stood up, his legs, though a lot more sturdy, still wobbled weakly as he stood taller than he ever did before. He was so tall that when he stood his head grazed the light above the table, this caused him to actually duck down, clearly startling him. Looking up at the light that now swung ever so slightly, Twigleg felt amazed, and slowly, he reached up and actually managed to grab the light, stopping it from swinging. "I don't think I'll ever get used to this..." Twigleg breathed out weakly as he let go of the light.

"C'mon." Barnabas lightly grabbed Twigleg's shoulders and moved him along towards the outside. Opening the sliding glass door, the two of them walked outside. Twigleg hissed out slightly at the bright UK sunlight. Moving his hand up to shield his eyes from the bright light. Walking a few more steps outside, Twigleg bumped into something. Bringing his hand down, he only looked down to see one of the lawn chairs. Before, this chair looked huge, beyond huge! Now... Twigleg silently sat down in the chair, he fit perfectly. Looking at his tiny doll chair that was knocked over on top of the table. Twigleg just used his index finger to stand it back up again.

"Anything?" Barnabas asked him softly, causing Twigleg to stop and look at him. Twigleg only shook his head numbly, he really didn't remember what happened. Barnabas let out a soft sigh and gently patted Twigleg's shoulder. Twigleg stood up slowly. Looking at the table, then at the large chairs, Twigleg felt like he was in a daze, all in all, he truly felt a bit more than dizzy at the moment.

"I..." Twigleg rubbed his head before suddenly falling to his knees.

"Whoa! Alright, let's get you back to bed," Barnabas helped Twigleg up to his feet once again and together the two of them walked back inside. Twigleg put his hand on his head and lightly groaned out, he started feeling sick again his stomach was currently doing summersaults. Any little movement made him feel like lurching, so Twigleg was grateful when they made it to Ben's bed and he got to lay back down.

"I don't know what's happening... maybe after I nap..."

* * *

Ben silently put his books into his bookbag before slinging the bag over his shoulder as the bell to signal that class was over rang above his head. He hardly focused on the study, he couldn't focus. His mind was on Twigleg. Had his friend woken yet? Was he okay? did he remember how he got bigger? What was going to happen now?

"Ben."

Atticus came out from the other side of the class room door, nearing scaring Ben to death. It did cause Ben to jump as he turned to look at the strange adult.

"What?" Ben could only ask Atticus.

"What's your next period?"

"Lunch... why?"

"C'mon, I'll take you out to lunch."

"Aha. No," Ben put it simply as he started to walk towards his locker. Atticus, having longer legs than Ben, quickly managed to job up in front of Ben stopping him once more. "Mr. Noel." Ben sighed deeply.

"Do you really want to eat the garbage they serve here?"

"Hmmmm... eat at school... go with a stranger..." Ben mocked weighing his options with his hands moving them up and down as he seemed to think. Ben than just shook his head with a chuckle. "Mr. Noel-"

"I'm not a teacher, Ben."

"You're about as old as one."

"Ben. I'm not going to do anything, just think of me as another student." Atticus put it plainly. Ben could only purse his lips as he thought about it.

' _I really don't know anything about Atticus. He's an alright guy, but...'_  Ben looked at Atticus and raised an eyebrow at the older man as he tried to not look too creeped out.  _'He's rather creepy.'_

"My treat?"

Ben shut his eyes and let out a rather irritated sigh. Clearly, Atticus wasn't going to take a 'no' for an answer. So, giving up Ben nodded. "Alright, fine."

Atticus face split into a big smile as he started to walk towards the front doors. "Great, I already got permission from the front desk. Let's go." Atticus lead the way, and Ben could only roll his eyes as he followed. Guinevere will probably kill him for doing this, but truth be told, Ben needed to get away from school as it wasn't helping him at all. Maybe being out and about will clear his head better.

* * *

"You have a nice car..." Ben spoke up as he, and Atticus, walked down the sidewalk, taking a bit bite out of his cheeseburger. It was honestly a beautiful day out. So, Ben suggested they took their food to go and eat outside. Atticus didn't fight him on it but he looked insanely uncomfortable as they walked. He just couldn't seem to hold still, constantly scratching his face, and grimacing in, what seemed to be, pain. He also had giant sunglasses on, that looked like they belonged in the 1970's, Ben might add.

"Thanks, I try to take good care of her," Atticus chuckled to Ben. He took a bite out of his own burger. "She's my baby."

Ben focused his attention off towards the horizon for a moment. Ben then heard the loud sound of Atticus clearly spitting something out. Turning, Ben raised an eyebrow at Atticus. "Everything alright?" Ben questioned as Atticus was now throwing his burger in the trash.

"Bah, bloody thing was raw, inedible," Atticus responded as he straightened himself up. "I hate fast food."

"Oh... alright then." Ben shrugged, and bit into his own burger once more, looking at the meat, Ben sniffed, it was cooked perfectly. He quickly chewed and swallowed, "Mine's fine."

They both stood there in silence as Ben finished up his burger. Once done, Ben crumpled the thin wrapping and threw it out in the nearest trashcan. Grabbing his, still warm, chips (fries), Ben only ate one of those before Atticus jumped with a loud yell. Ben blinked, looking over at Atticus, Ben snorted. Atticus was currently trying to kick a rat away from his feet.

"Shoo!  _Get!"_ Atticus seethed as he jumped up onto a bench.

"Wow," Ben tsked and shook his head. "Here you go little guy." Leaning down, Ben silently handed the rat one of his chips. The rat looked him cautiously before snatching the fry right out of his hand and taking off quickly.

"You shouldn't feed vermin," Atticus coolly responded before getting down from the chair and straightening his vest out, "They'll just keep coming back." he finished.

Ben could only scoff at Atticus, "Oh, one fry isn't going to harm anything, Atti."

"I'm just saying- wait... what did you just call me?"

"Oops, I guess that must have just slipped out," Ben stated softly. He then smiled at Atticus, "Won't happen again."

Atticus frowned a bit but said nothing as the two of them started to walk back towards the car. Ben looked up at some of the establishments. Breathing in deeply, Atticus shoved his hands into his pockets before walking along with Ben.

' _He's hiding something, I know he is. He's still not really talking, and something seems off. It's her. It has to be, she's gotten to him somehow...'_

"Orrick." Ben absentmindedly hummed. Atticus blinked before whipping his head to Ben. The teen looked back at him curious. "Yes?"

"... It's just... that name-"

"O'Rick's tavern... see?" Ben pointed up to the tavern, sure enough, it was indeed called O'Rick.

"Oh, my bad, I thought you said something else," Atticus muttered as he continued to walk on ahead. With his hands still in his pockets, he slowly pulled out his car keys along with a pack of gum. Turning around abruptly, Atticus stopped walking making Ben stop, as well. "Gum?" Atticus offered.

"Don't take candy from strangers," Ben cheekily replied to Atticus's offer.

"Am I really a stranger? I mean C'mon you did invite me to dinner at your home, a dinner that went... poorly, but dinner nonetheless." Atticus countered.

"... Good point." Ben chuckled before taking a piece. "Thanks, I guess I just needed to get my mind off of things going on at home at the moment, so thanks for lunch." Ben softly spoke as he unwrapped the gum, and popped it into his mouth. Crumbling the wrapper Ben stuck it into his pocket.

' _So something is going on at home, but what? I guess I'll have to see for myself later... we should probably head back to school. I know his sister is going to have my head on a pike if she finds out that I took him away for the day.'_

"C'mon, let's not dilly dally anymore, we need to head back if we don't want to be late," Atticus spoke as he started towards the car once again.

"So, if you don't mind me asking, why are you in school? Clearly, you're old enough to really not need any more education," Ben brought up. "Not trying to be rude or anything, just curious."

"...Just finishing something is all."

Ben let it be after that, Atticus looked at his friend and pursed his lips a bit in thought.

' _He looks so much like him. Same eye shape, color, same nose, and chin. He's a lot younger...'_  Atticus sniffed and rubbed his left eye tiredly, he cringed as his contact shifted a bit on his eye. Blinking his eyes at a fast rate, his contact went back into its place.

They both got back to the car, and within seconds they were down the road. Nothing was said between the two of them as Ben stared out of the window. Atticus took his eyes off of the road for a moment to look at Ben's reflection in the window. Atticus focused back on the road. He couldn't say a thing, there was nothing he could say at this moment.

* * *

"Thanks again, Atticus," Ben smiled as he rested his arms against the window frame.

"No problem, I'm still your friend," Atticus shrugged with a cocky smile playing on his lips, "Even if your father doesn't agree with that."

Ben only chuckled before turning, only briefly, however; as he turned back around and smiled once again. "Oh, you might want to get your left canine tooth checked out, it looks cracked," Ben responded as he pointed to his own left canine for reference. Ben then left. Atticus waited about ten seconds before quickly pulling down the sun visor. Opening up the mirror, Atticus lifted his lip up to look at his canine.

"Son of a... how did I miss that?!" Atticus growled as he suddenly moved his thumb and forefinger up towards his tooth. With a simple  _pop!_  his tooth came out. Well, not his 'tooth'.

Atticus huffed out as he looked at the broken tooth in his palm. Looking back at the mirror, Atticus could see his left canine poking out a bit from beneath his upper lip giving him a snaggletooth, that he clearly didn't have before. Also, the sharpness of his, very obvious, fang, gave him away.

"Great, I have an extra at home, but I really don't want to go home just to come back to school," He shook his head. "Well, I guess I'm taking the rest of the day off then."

* * *

Twigleg felt odd as he stood over Ben. Ben and Guinevere both seemed freaked out as well as they both looked at one another then back at Twigleg.

"I didn't expect you to be  _this_  tall if I'm being honest." Guinevere finally broke the silence as she breathed out awkwardly.

"Well," Twigleg paused before licking his lips as he looked at the entire family, "How tall did you expect me to be?"

"... I don't know... maybe about Ben's height?" Guinevere shrugged.

"No," Ben cut in with a simple hand wave, "I think this height matches him perfectly."

Twigleg frowned before sitting down on the couch. It felt strange to actually be eye level with anyone.

"Well, we have to figure this out. Twigleg doesn't remember a thing, and the only other one in the home was, well, you Ben," Barnabas spoke as he sat down in the dining room. Vita was sitting just opposite of Barnabas as she looked beyond worried her hands clasped together as she looked at Twigleg wide-eyed.

"Yes, I was studying when it happened. I don't know what happened, I really don't," Ben shrugged weakly.

"I really wished I remembered what happened, but..." Twigleg trailed off.

"Don't worry, Twigleg, we'll figure this out," Guinevere gently spoke as she placed her on his. Twigleg looked up at her and gave her a small smile.

"Me being this big doesn't... scare you guys?" Twigleg asked them all softly.

"No way! Twigleg, big or small you're still my family!" Ben yelled as he walked over to Twigleg, "You're our family Twigleg." Ben spoke a little more calmly as he suddenly wrapped his arms around Twigleg's neck in a soft hug. Twigleg happily smiled before hugging Ben back.

"Alright, thankfully today is Friday," Vita spoke up from her chair. They all looked at her wondering where she was going with this. "It's obvious that Twigleg is probably going to be this size for a while. So it's for the best if we go out and get him some new clothes tomorrow."

"N-New clothes?" Twigleg couldn't help but wonder. Looking down at his dusty clothes that he's worn for centuries, he wondered what was wrong with them. They were comfortable.

"Twigleg, your clothes are kind of an eye catcher, especially in today's day and age. It would probably be for the best if you get something that won't make you stand out," Barnabas pointed out as he stood up. Ben let go of Twigleg, allowing Twigleg to stand as well. He and Barnabas were the same height! How did he miss this earlier?! "Hm, I think I have some clothes you can wear for tomorrow, so you don't stick out so much." Barnabas finished.

"Okay..." Twigleg responded softly. He really didn't know how he should have responded to that. If Barnabas wants it that way, then fine by him.

* * *

"What are you reading?" Twigleg couldn't help but ask as he came into Ben's room. Twigleg's red hair sopping wet from the shower he just took. Normally when he needed to be clean, he'd just take a bath in the bathroom sink, but now he had to actually take a shower, it was new, to say the least. The professor lent him some of his old pajama's to wear for the night. Ben was laying on his bed, legs crossed as he read the book in his lap.

" _Carrie_." Ben put it plainly before looking up at Twigleg and smiling. "Never read it?"

"No? What's it about?"

"It's about an outcast at school who has telekinesis," Ben paused as he shut the book. "I've read it once before in year seven, I saw it again and thought I'd pick it up again. Want the ending?"

"Err... no thanks."

Ben only chuckled softly and put the book on his nightstand. "So, how are you feeling?" He changed the subject.

"Still trying to get used to it all, I mean... I've never been this big before, I keep bumping into things, like the coffee table! Why do I keep bumping into that thing?!"

Ben laughed this time, "It's called not paying attention. Trust me, we've all bumped into that table. You just don't see it coming when you're walking is all."

Twigleg walked over to his bed and paused. His bed was on Ben's dresser...

"Oh, get over here, you bloke," Ben spoke up once he saw Twigleg. Putting his book beside Twigleg's old bed. Ben stood up and moved the covers to his bed back. "Alright, slide on in."

Twigleg looked at Ben before awkwardly sliding onto the bed. The bed wasn't that big, a twin to be exact, but Ben didn't seem to mind as he got in right beside Twigleg. Ben only looked at Twigleg and smiled softly. "You really don't mind this?" Twigleg asked.

"Nope! Don't forget, I've let you sleep on me countless times. This is nothing," Ben told him plain as day.

Twigleg rested his head against the soft pillow, his bony knees resting against Ben's own knees. It was odd for him to say that he felt... well cramped. He said nothing about it though, he couldn't.

"Okay... well, good night."

Ben turned and reached over, turning the light off, "Good night."

* * *

"Ohhh~ This is cute," Guinevere showed Twigleg a purple hoodie with black stripes.

Twigleg had mixed feelings about the mall. It was loud and packed with other people. He felt odd to be out where there were so many people, but here he was. He felt like he should be hiding, but nobody so much as gave him a second glance.

"I guess if you like purple," Twigleg responded as he inspected the item.

"You don't like purple?"

"It's an alright color, I guess, but... one of my brothers had purple hair... " He muttered the end softly as the memory of his brothers came back.

"Oh, right..."

"How about this?" Ben asked as he came into the scene. Twigleg turned, Ben held up just a plain blue polo shirt.

"That's nice... I think... I'm confused," Twigleg finally admitted.

"Twigleg, you need more than the clothes you have and dad's clothes, His pants don't even fit you all the way. If you're going to be this big for so long then it's probably for the best if we get you a few new clothes." Ben told him in a soft whisper.

"Yes... but why would I buy something based on what it looks like?" Twigleg asked Ben and Guinevere in the same whisper.

"Because... well... that's just how things are. If you like it-" Ben started, but Guinevere cut him off.

"-And it's reasonably priced,"

"Then you get it if you need it." Ben finished plainly. "So, Blue polo? Yes?" He asked a bit louder.

"Sure..."

Twigleg wasn't sure he liked 'clothes shopping' too much. So many questions about his preference, and so many people measuring him. According to a shop owner, Twigleg clocked in about 6'6 an inch taller than Barnabas. All and all it just left the manikin confused, and the modeling! He's never modeled before, and now here he was trying on five different pairs of pants! Still, in the end, they got enough clothes for Twigleg, were about ready to head out of the mall, when they ran into a familiar face.

"Hey!"

Everyone stopped at the yell as Atticus came jogging up to them. Barnabas scowled instantly.

"Oh, Atticus, what are you doing here?" Ben asked the man. Atticus blinked as he looked up at Twigleg. Instantly, Twigleg started to feel itchy again, there was something... off about Atticus's eyes, but he just couldn't explain it.

"Bah, just a little clothes shopping," Atticus waved it off as he smiled at them.

"Your tooth! You got it fixed already?" Ben questioned. Instantly Atticus closed his mouth.

"Yeah, fixed it up yesterday."

"Alright, well this was fun, but we need to go now." Barnabas stopped the conversation right there, herding them all along.

"Bye, Atticus."

"Bye..." Atticus stood there, not moving until Twigleg passed him. Twigleg felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up when Atticus smiled at him now. "By the way. Nice eyes." Atticus winked at Twigleg before getting ready to leave, but then, something else happened.

" _Stop! thief!"_

In front of them, a hooded figure went sprinting out of a store, clearly not paying attention to what was in front of them, this person suddenly went barreling right into Ben, knocking the two of them down.

"Bloody-" Ben never got to finish what he was going to say as he only saw strands of blue hair poking out of the hood, Ben wasn't too sure, but he thought maybe the guy had green eyes. Then within a blink of an eye, the thief was up off of Ben. Running for their life down the mall corridor, knocking people out of the way.

" _Stop! I'll take both of your bloody hands for this!"_  the shopkeeper roared as he went chasing the thief down.

"Bloody hell..." Ben groaned out as Atticus was the first to help him up.

"Benjamin, language!" Vita scolded.

"Well, they won't get far..." Barnabas felt the need to add as about three mall officers went rushing past them towards where the thief went.

"Oh, I have to see this. See ya." With that, Atticus went following the officers.

"Let's just go, before  _he_  changes his mind," Barnabas muttered to them as he started to usher them out of the mall once again. "I have to say though, I do think this day was rather eventful."


	4. Chapter 4

The weekend was uneventful for the family, nothing happened, no clues came up, and Twigleg was still lost when it came to his memories. Still, they were trying to make the most of it and remain hopeful. Twigleg watched as Ben and Guinevere quickly left for school early Monday morning. Watching them go, it made him rather sad to be alone in the house once more. A part of them wanted to go with them to school, to see what they truly learn, but he couldn't so here he was, alone at home, as the professor was off at work, and so was Vita.

Sitting at the dining room table, Twigleg only stared out the window blankly. He watched as the birds swooped on by over the treetops. They twitted loudly and fluttered around, it calmed him really, taking his mind off of everything. That was until he heard a noise coming from outside. Twigleg perked his head up, it sounded like something hit the table outside. Scooting out of the chair, Twigleg walked over to the sliding glass door. Unlocking it, Twigleg opened it and stepped out. The brisk autumn air hitting his face. Looking at the table Twigleg blinked in confusion. There was a book just resting there on the table. Thinking maybe Ben left his book outside, Twigleg walked over and picked it up off of the table. It was rather clear to him right off that this book was not Ben's.

The book was old. The pages thick, and a sickly yellow color, the book was held together in a tan leather hide. Rubbing his fingers against the rough leather, Twigleg noticed that there was no title to the book. So, he opened it.

"Oh my, my..." Twigleg squeaked out, rather excitedly, when he was met with Latin. Old school Latin, stuff he hasn't seen in centuries, stuff his own creator would often write down in his own notes as he was creating Nettleband. That, and the paper, the paper wasn't normal. It was thicker than regular paper and had a yellowish tint to it, the feel of the paper was something Twigleg hasn't felt in a long time, and finally the writing, it was made with charcoal? Something black, that wasn't ink. This all added up one thing, this journal was old, possibly even older than Twigleg. What was it doing here? He didn't know, still, that didn't stop him from sitting down at the nearest chair outside, and reading the story that was laid out before him.

* * *

_I do not know why I write in this forsaken journal, but I bought it, and paper isn't cheap. I have to put this thing to work somehow._

_They think of me as a hero. I do not understand why. I've gotten this praise that I do not feel that I deserve, I at least know my father wouldn't praise me like this, that man wouldn't praise me for anything. I do miss him, I'm not saying he was a good man, far from it. May the Lord be with him for always._

_Kuriana's restless, I don't blame her, these damn vampires are causing her to itch like crazy. She can't hold still._

* * *

Twigleg paused his readings for a second. This journal was either missing pages or the man didn't write in regularly, assuming a man wrote this that is because things just went from one extreme to the next. Vampires? Twigleg had to shake his head at that. Vampires were long extinct by the time Twigleg was created! So that would make this journal older than him. Also, who in the world is Kuriana? Even by olden times, that name made no sense! She sounds like a fabulous creature, maybe, if vampires caused her to itch...

With a sigh and a headshake, Twigleg turned the page and continued on.

* * *

_I met the royal family today, lovely people. Delightful people actually. They wanted me to help get rid of the 'infestation' going around their kingdom, I happily obliged. Did as they were told, it was easy. All I had to do was slice my palm open, and the bloodsuckers came rushing at me. The low-borns never saw me coming. Killed them all before they even knew what happened. They all turned to dust the moment my sword hit their flesh. Silver is a very good defendant against these monsters it turns out._

_As a reward for my service to the king and queen of this great land, I was given a cloak, with matching gloves. I shall cherish these items._

_The prince came to me personally today, right before I was ready to head off with Kuriana. He told me about the half-bloods. Half-bloods are truly terrifying creatures. A literal embodiment of sin. Half human, half vampire. Only a sinner would ever mate with a vampire, and then keep the child!_

_A half-blood is stronger than a human but weaker than a full-blooded vampire. From the information I gathered in order to recognize a half-blood from a full-blood it's the eyes. All vampires are cursed with blood red eyes, but the full blood have the devilish pupils of a cat, whereas the half-bloods have normal round pupils._

* * *

Twigleg licked his lips shakily, and gently backed away from the book for a second. He honestly had no clue that there was such a thing as a half-blooded vampire. It made him shiver just thinking about it. Vampires were scary enough on their own terms, now make one half-human? Oh no, that was asking for a whole world of trouble right there. If half-bloods were a thing back whenever this journal was made, odds are they didn't last very long.

Calming himself down, Twigleg licked his lips and went back to reading.

* * *

_I couldn't believe it, I actually found one! A half-blood. He isn't what I expect at all. I found the creature hiding in the alley behind the baker's shop feeding off of the rats in the streets. I felt something for the creature, I think it's pity? The thing couldn't be older than fourteen years of age, skinner than any human I've seen, his skin a pale sickly gray, his hair a brought red with ruby red eyes to match. I knew I should have ended his life then and there, but I didn't and I let him get away. I was foolish, but also intrigued?_

_Once again, I had the chance to kill the vampire, but I didn't take it. I don't understand what's wrong with me. Have I grown soft? Is it because this thing is actually human in a sense? Is it because it's just a pitiful pathetic creature that clearly needs help? The vampire has the black death, I know the symptoms of that anywhere. Literally, he was just lying there on the cold freezing cobbled street. I could have ended his miserable life right there with my sword! Yet, I didn't. He didn't even notice me standing before him as he laid there face down in the dirty alley. I could see a disgusting mass of blood beside him, clearly his own bile. I just covered my face and ran from him. I wasn't going to risk getting sick. That's what I kept telling myself._

* * *

Twigleg let out a loud scoff when he turned the page and found  _several_  pages missing from the journal. They were ripped out. Twigleg could see the jagged remains of the pages. So he counted. Five pages were missing. What was with those five pages? Someone deliberately tore those pages out by the looks of it. So with a bitter scowl, Twigleg flipped to see just how many pages of the book were left. One. Only one page remained and that only had one entry to it.

* * *

_Kuriana has been nudging me along, as well as my companion. It's getting worse with each passing hour. I can't eat, I vomit everything I try to digest. I have a fever, I can't stand without my legs giving out of me, the chills that run down my spine get worse and worse. I feel like my time is coming, and there's nothing anybody can do about it._

_My companion keeps crying, he doesn't think I can hear him, but I can. Kuriana cries too, she has to stay away from when she does so as her tears burn my skin. The sad thing is, I know I'm not going to make it, to never see the morning light. My companion_

* * *

" _Yes?!_ " Twigleg yelled out loudly in demand. He flipped the page back and forth, hoping to get some sort of closure, but he got nothing. "That's it? Who was Kuriana? What happened to the half-blood? Who was his companion?  _How did he die?!_ "

"Twigleg? Who are you talking to?" Barnabas came out of the house through the sliding glass door.

"Look at this! I don't know where it came from, but it was just on the table out here," Twigleg told the professor as he shot up from the chair, and showed the book to the other male. Barnabas looked at the book for a moment, feeling it with his hands, and noting the thick paper as well. He then opened it and started to read. It wasn't long before he finished.

"Interesting, you said it was just sitting on the table?"

Twigleg nodded vigorously.

"That doesn't seem right, this isn't one of ours, obviously, so someone just dropped it off here? Why?"

"I don't know, but it really is old. It talked about Vampires. Those don't exist anymore!"

"Don't hold your breath on that one... It mentioned a half-blood. I must ask... do they age?" Barnabas asked Twigleg.

All Twigleg could do was just shrug meekly. "I know nothing on half-bloods, I didn't even know they existed until reading that journal," Twigleg responded.

"Right... You know it's interesting, in the last entry the guy wrote about Kuriana, and her tears burning him when she cried," The professor trailed off as he reread the last entry. "It sounds like Kuriana might be a dragon."

Twigleg perked his head up, "Seriously?"

"Well that's all I got, but she, or he, very well maybe... you said it was just on the table?"

"Yeah."

There was a moment of silence as Barnabas pursed his lips before letting out a bitter hum in thought. "I have a theory as to who left it, but I'm not going to say anything just yet," Barnabas looked at the cover of the journal. "There's a reason several pages are missing." He finished before turning and going back inside. Twigleg followed him, shutting the door behind himself as he did so.

"Do you mind if I keep this for a while?" Barnabas asked.

"Like I said, it was just outside, have at it," Twigleg sat down as he peered up at Barnabas, "Do you think it belonged to the previous rider?"

"Maybe. Like I said, and you noticed, there are pages missing so there's really no indicating if Kuriana truly is a dragon or not, but it's a strong possibility."

* * *

"Oi! Put me down! I'll nip your nose!" Lola screamed loudly as she struggled against the woman holding her by her tail. Lola twisted and turned, but no matter how hard she tried she just couldn't get free of the woman.

"Oh, come now, no need to be hostile, little one, why don't you just  _calm down_."

In an instant, Lola stopped her struggling. The woman laid Lola out in her palm. Lola didn't move as she just looked up at the woman.

"I need you to give Firedrake a little message for me,"

"Of course, anything you want, Miss," Lola responded obediently, as she looked up at her.

"Tell him 'the dragon rider is coming soon'," The woman then proceeded to drop Lola to the ground, next to her toy biplane. "Hurry."

"Of course! off I go!" Without another word, Lola ran to her plane and jumped into the cockpit. Within seconds the little rat and her plane were gone.

Celeste crossed her arms as a smirk played on her lips. Things were going to get very interesting very soon. As her plan was being put into action.

* * *

Ben frowned deeply as he walked up to Atticus's locker, he wasn't there, he's always there. "Must be sick," Ben muttered to himself, before smirking a bit. ' _yeah right,'_  he thought. Still, if he wasn't there than he wasn't there.

Walking on down the school hallway, Ben paused for a moment as the hallway suddenly got deathly quiet. Looking around, Ben blinked dumbly as he was now looking at an empty school corridor. It was bustling and busy a second ago, what just happened? No students, nothing. Ben felt his heart rate start to increase, this wasn't normal and he knew it.

"H-Hello?" Ben called out startled. Licking his now dry lips, he looked left, then right, then left again. Nothing and nobody. "Hello!" He called out louder again.

"Ben?"

Ben practically jumped out of his skin when Guinevere touched his shoulder. The hallway was busy again as kids passed him, some gave him odd looks. He only stood there wide-eyed for a moment as he put his hand to his head.

"Are you alright?" Guinevere asked him slowly as she looked at him with concern.

"I... I'm fine," He softly told her as he tried to wrap his brain around what just happened. "I think I'm not getting enough sleep at home." was the only explanation he could come up with at that moment. The bell rang over his head, and he breathed out heavily.

"C'mon, let's get to class," Guinevere started to redirect him towards the classroom. She gently patted his shoulder as she moved him on. "Sometimes I worry about you, you looked like you were going crazy there for a second."

* * *

Barnabas had to leave once more, he only came back to check up on Twigleg for his lunch break, that and to grab a spot of tea. He took the journal with him clearly very intrigued by it. Twigleg was curious as well, mostly about the missing pages, those were torn out for a reason, and he wanted to find that reason. He was also curious about half-bloods, so, with Barnabas's permission, he sat in front of the professor's computer, waiting. It was starting up. While the computer whirred to life, Twigleg looked around Barnabas's office.

The place was pretty hectic looking, this was Barnabas's personal space, one would think it was littered with important work papers, they would be right, kind of, all these papers were about where to find the next fabulous creature. Every single one.

After the loud start-up, the computer finally bleeped to life. Twigleg turned in his chair and went on the internet. Waiting about five minutes for that to come up, he slowly typed each key out to . Once that came up, he slowly typed up what he was looking for. The first thing to pop up was-

"Dhampir?" Twigleg questioned as his brow furrowed. Feeling an itch on his head, Twigleg scratched it before clicking on the link, he started to read the information given to him it wasn't much, as people see vampires as mythical and fake, it really gave him more questions than answers in all honesty. The lore about them wasn't too much either, just that it varies from place to place. Some say a half-blood dies after hitting puberty and comes back as a vampire, others state that a half-blood is human up until the human part dies then they come back as a vampire.

Eventually, Twigleg left that site, his head itching like crazy now, but really didn't get many answers elsewhere. So, he was left in the dark about this particular fabulous creature, Twigleg didn't like that. There was something about not knowing about this creature that unnerved Twigleg greatly. Shutting the computer down, Twigleg, scratched his head some more as he got up from his seat and turned around-

-and almost had a heart attack.

Leaning against the doorframe to the study was Atticus, the man staring right at him, his eyes boring into Twigleg's own. Instantly Twigleg backed up, his legs hitting the desk.

"H-How? What?" Twigleg asked as his heart thumped at a rapid pace.

"You should really keep that sliding door locked," Atticus spoke calmly in a matter of fact voice. "Saw you were looking up Dhampirs, interesting. Want to learn about them, do you? Well, I'll give you a little lesson on Dhampirs then. A half-blooded vampire can, in fact, go out in the sun, It doesn't melt their flesh off like it does a full-blooded vampire." Atticus took a step into the room, Twigleg wanted to back up, but he couldn't so he quickly stepped to the side. "Oh, you'll find this cute, a half-blood does age, can you believe that? In about seven hundred years, a half-blooded vampire, who died at the age of fourteen, will finally look like a twenty-one-year-old man. "

"Get away from me!" Twigleg yelled as he quickly picked up anything that could be used as a weapon, he grabbed a letter opener off of the desk, it wasn't much but it was something, right?

"Are you seriously not getting what I'm hinting at here?!" Atticus yelled, he then rolled his eyes at Twigleg, "Oh, put that thing down!" With a quick slap to Twigleg's wrists, Atticus knocked the letter opener right out of his hand, like it was nothing. Twigleg only looked up briefly before seeing a hand come flying towards him, thinking Atticus was going to strike him, Twigleg braced himself. He got a surprise when all Atticus did was just, well, trap him. Atticus had his hand on the wall above Twigleg's head keeping him trapped between the wall and Atticus. Being this close to Atticus made Twigleg shake, as he saw just how unnatural looking Atticus truly looked up close.

Atticus's skin wasn't a pale color, as Twigleg once though, but more of a dull gray. His hair, a deep reddish brown that stuck out greatly against the grayish color of his skin. His eyes, there was something wrong with his eyes, but Twigleg couldn't place it. They looked like a normal blue color but, there was just something off about them.

"A.. are you a Dhampir?" Twigleg asked the first and only question that was on his mind at the moment.

"I don't know, you tell me," Atticus backed up, opened his mouth, and stuck his fingers in there. There was a loud 'pop' that suddenly happened, followed by another 'pop', then he turned his head away from Twigleg for a few seconds as he messed around with his eyes? Maybe. Finally, Atticus turned around, eyes closed. He opened his left palm to show two contact lenses and two fake teeth.

"Wha-"

Atticus finally opened his eyes and smiled. His eyes, a red color that Twigleg himself had, he also had two fangs sticking out from his upper lip.

"You're  _are_  a... Dhampir?" Twigleg squeaked out startled as everything started to sink in.

"I prefer half-blood," Atticus crossed his arms, backing off from Twigleg finally. "Come, I'll explain everything in the living room." With that Atticus turned and walked out of the room. Twigleg took in a deep breath as he felt his breath go ragged, he could only stand there shaking for a few seconds, fear making his heart pump quickly. Picking up the letter opener off of the ground, he silently put it in the back pocket of his jeans. He wasn't a violent manikin, in fact, he was sure if he tried to attack Atticus he'd fail, but he had to try. Poking his head out the door, Twigleg slowly walked into the living room. Atticus was now sitting on the couch, one leg folded under his thigh, as he looked at the wall.

"Don't vampires..." Twigleg slowly spoke causing Atticus to turn to look at him. "Don't they need to be invited in?"

"No. That's just a lie people made so others would feel safer about identifying vampires," He told Twigleg as he propped his elbow against the back of the couch so he could rest his head against his open palm. "People weren't the smartest back then."

"Clearly not," Twigleg drawled out the last bit slowly. Atticus gave him a smile his vampire teeth poking out from under of his lips once more. "So... you're a vampire, that's nice."

"You don't have to fake it for me, Twiggy-"

"How did you-"

"-I know more than I let on. For instance, I can tell you're scared."

Twigleg tried to make himself look braver by standing up taller and pulling his shoulders back, but his heart was still thumbing a thousand miles per minute. "I'm not scared."

"Twigleg, Twigleg, Twigleg..." Atticus tsked as he stood up. Walking over to Twigleg showing that he was still taller than Twigleg, but not by much, Atticus still felt the need to bend down so they were face to face. Atticus's red crimson eyes striking fear into Twigleg's heart. "You don't know much about my kind, do you?"

"Vampires were extinct by the time I was created." Twigleg gulped still terrified, he could feel his knees knocking together in fear.

"No, not extinct, endangered? Yes, but not extinct. There are still vampires that live, clearly. Vampires are still being born and created as we speak, but, we hide. We hide amongst normal people as it is easier for us now more than ever in today's world, but back then? When vampires run rampant? It was easy to identify one... Oh, I've gone off on a bit of a tangent haven't I?" Atticus sighed weakly, putting his hand to his head in thought for a few seconds before going back to his original point. "Ah, yes, little fun fact about vampires, we can hear heartbeats, In short, I can hear your little heart beating like a bass drum in a rock concert."

"You... need to leave!"

"I'm not going to," Atticus made his point by suddenly jumping over the couch and plopping back down on it once again.

"I will...  _make_  you leave!" Twigleg yelled as he balled up his fists, he was trying to be brave, he truly was.

"Twigleg, you are... well a twig. Have at it, go ahead, throw me out of you can," Atticus grinned as he leaned back against the arm of the couch. Twigleg let out a growl, storming over to Atticus, he grabbed on Atticus's ankle and tried to drag him. Keyword: tried, Atticus was clearly a lot heavier than Twigleg anticipated because the man didn't even budge as Twigleg yanked and pulled on the vampire's leg.

"You will get off of this couch!" Twigleg yanked once more as his voice strained, but in the end, he lost his grip on Atticus's leg and went flying back falling down on his rear. "Oof!" Twigleg squeaked.

"Are you done? Can I explain why I'm here now, or are you just going to keep trying to move me?" Atticus finally stood and offered a hand to Twigleg. Twigleg hesitated slightly, but finally, he grabbed Atticus's hand. As if his eyes weren't terrifying enough, Atticus's cold dead hand didn't do Twigleg any favors on the terrifying factor right now.

"Fine. Why are you here?"

"He asks about twenty minutes later," Atticus chuckled at his own joke, ignoring Twigleg's irritated eyeroll. "Look, I didn't come here to terrorize you guys, on the contrary, I'm here to help."

"Oh, I've always wanted my blood sucked away while I sleep," Twigleg found himself quipping at Atticus.

"Twigleg please, I don't drink human blood. I'm strictly on an animal blood diet, I hunt my own food, and I don't even eat the strays I see every day, but. I digress," Atticus sighed deeply before continuing, "Ben's in danger-"

"From you!"

"No. No. I am not the danger! Let me finish, dammit!" Atticus snarled, he was getting pretty sick and tired of being interrupted all the damn time. Calming himself down, Atticus let out a soft breath before continuing, "You didn't become big for no reason, there's a literal witch after Ben. I'm trying to protect him from her, but..."

"A witch? Witches don't exist!"

"You didn't think vampires still existed until ten minutes ago! She does exist, and she's  _pissed_  at me."

"Why? What did you do?"

Atticus hesitated for a moment. His face faltered showing a slight frown while he showed guilt, but it was only for a second before he hardened back up, "It doesn't matter now. I happened. That's all." He spoke in short sentences. Twigleg wasn't having it though, "No! You tell me what you did, otherwise, I won't believe a word you say!"

"You're a brave little titch," Atticus leaned down so they were eye level once more. "Fine, if you truly must know. I may have stabbed her, and now she want's revenge for it and is going after Ben as payback."

"But what does Ben have to do with this!?" Twigleg demanded.

"Everything..." Atticus let out a low sigh and rubbed his eyes tiredly. Sitting down on the couch again Atticus looked out the window for a moment before looking at Twigleg. "I messed up big time almost six hundred years ago..."

"I'm sorry, did you just say... 'almost six  _hundred_  years ago?'"

"Yes... Twigleg... I killed the original dragon rider."

* * *

Ben felt like he was being watched, he couldn't quite place it, but he felt like there was someone constantly watching him over his shoulder. It unnerved him greatly. He could hardly focus on the test right in front of him. Constantly, he looked over his shoulder, but there was nobody, except the other students, there and they were all too focused on their test.

"Ben, focus on your own paper, don't become the next Justin," The teacher finally snapped at him after about the fifth or six time he looked behind him.

"Sorry, Miss." He could only mumble softly before focusing on his work. He heard Justin snort beside him.

"Dude, you've only gotten to question five? What's wrong with you today?" Justin whispered softly as he peered over at Ben's answers.

"Say's the one who's only going as fast as I am."

"Hey now..."

"Both of you two, hush!"

Quickly the two of them shut-up as Ben tried to focus on his test. Scratching his face slightly, Ben brought his fingers back only to blink at the site of blood smeared between his index and middle finger. Unable to process this, Ben blinked again, and the blood was gone this time around.

' _Focus, Ben! I'm losing it!'_  He thought as he went back to his test. Breathing out heavily he started to write some answers down, but before he could finish the bell rang.

"Alright, pencils down, off to lunch," The teacher proclaimed as she stood. Most students got up without any problems, but Ben didn't move. He felt in a daze as he looked up at the whiteboard.

"Benjamin, move it." The teacher shuffled him out of his seat. The teacher grabbed his test followed by Justin's test, she then groaned out.

"Urg. Justin Filtzgarld! You couldn't even TRY to change your answers from Ben's not even a little?"

"No way, Miss. You know me, not my style," Justin winked at her as he waltzed out the classroom door.

"Well your style is a big fat F! That's what it is!" The teacher roared to him before looking at Ben's paper. Ben already had his backpack slung over his shoulder ready to leave, when the teacher let out several tsk's in a row.

"Couldn't finish today, I see? Is everything alright?... Also, you wrote your last answer in French! how the bloody... This is maths, Benjamin!"

"I... I just..." Ben couldn't even finish, he just turned and walked away.

"Ben!"

He didn't even look back, he felt uncomfortable, something wasn't right, and he needed to just calm down. Skipping the cafeteria, for now, Ben made a bee-line for the bathrooms. Thankfully the bathroom he went into was empty. Turning the tap onto the cold setting, he quickly splashed his face vigorously with the cold water, just to wake himself up. Once done, and breathing heavily, Ben turned the tap off and looked up in the mirror.

"Bloody hell, get a hold of yourself, mate," He talked to himself softly. Licking his dry lips, Ben sighed out deeply as he rubbed his tired eyes. "Okay, now go, and eat lunch."

Walking out of the bathroom, Ben took notice of the silent empty hallway once again. However, because it was lunch, and most kids were in the cafeteria, he decided to not think about it. Just get to the cafeteria. Walking forward he felt the air get heavy around him, something wasn't right at all. Stopping for a second, Ben pulled on his collar. It felt like it was starting to choke him. Coughing, Ben continued to tug and tug on his collar he just wanted the paranoia and anxiety to stop.

"Okay, okay, just breathe," Ben ordered himself to do as he started to walk towards the cafeteria, trying his hardest to ignore the growing fear and anxiety. He couldn't, no matter what he did, he just couldn't. So with his heart still beating at a rapid almost unbelievable rate, he turned around and left the school, slamming the back doors open Ben ran. He had no clue what he was running from, but he ran. He didn't exactly get far, getting to the track field is when somebody suddenly grabbed his middle.

"L-Let go!" Ben screamed out. Kicking his legs in the air, Ben tried to wiggle free, but the person wasn't allowing it. The person then spoke, his voice thick as well as deep,

"Nope, come along, Ben, my mistress is very intent on meeting you. So don't misbehave."

**End of Part 1**


	5. Chapter 5

"So, I don't understand, you tried to save the original dragon rider, that you were friends with, so... in the end, you decided that your best option was to kill him?" Twigleg asked, for what had to be, the umpteenth time. They were no longer in the living room as Twigleg had moved to the kitchen to get some water. Atticus gave a soft sniff as he rubbed his nose slightly, unsure of what to say till finally he just shrugged.

"Sounds about right," Atticus hummed as he pushed himself up on to the kitchen counter, once seated he just gave Twigleg a bit of a knowing look as he crossed his arms. Twigleg shut the fridge and just looked at Atticus as he sat on the polished countertop.

"Were you raised in a barn?" Twigleg huffed as he took it upon himself to give Atticus a good push off of the counter.

"Close, I was raised on a farm, but we didn't have a barn," Atticus smiled as he jumped off, his fangs poking out of his upper lip. Twigleg couldn't really stop himself from bringing his thumb up and poke at one of Atticus's fangs. Atticus didn't seem to expect that as he suddenly jerked back and shook his head a little. "Bringing your hand to a vampire's mouth, you seem to want to be bitten..." Atticus mumbled.

"What? No, I don't, it's just... I've never seen a real live vampire... wait... I've never seen a dead vampire-...uhh..."

Atticus only shook his head softly with a small chuckle leaving his mouth. "Undead. Not alive, not dead."

"Ah, gotcha..." After that, there was nothing but awkward silence between the duo as Twigleg filled a cup with cold water and placed the gallon of water back in the fridge.

"Whoa, is that real?" Atticus suddenly questioned as he got off the countertop, and over towards the bookshelf by the dining table. Twigleg watched as Atticus pulled a book off of the self and examined it with intensity. Twigleg craned his neck a little to look at the book's title. It was the book the professor gave Ben all those years ago! The spine was worn and the title smudged from overuse, Twigleg and Ben must have read it a thousand times to try and find some rare creatures in the area.

"So... that's how he figured it out..." Atticus muttered darkly as he moved the book to show Twigleg the page he was looking at. Vampires, fitting, but there was something new about it. certain aspects were circled and little notes were added around the picture of the vampire. All in Barnabas's handwriting, Such notes included:

_Contacts? His eye color is fake._

_Teeth are sharp, he's shown discomfort wearing those obviously fake caps._

_He didn't eat at dinner, on another note, he has a flask attached to his hip. Blood filled?_

_He has a reflection. Then again, these mirrors are not made of silver that could be why._

"Huh, I give Barnabas a lot more credit, I didn't think anybody could notice my flask," Atticus hummed as he showed his small flask on his left hip to Twigleg. "Not even teachers notice this baby."

"I forgot he was the one to give Ben this book, of course, he would go to it if he suspected there was a fabulous creature in the area," Twigleg hummed softly as he watched Atticus shut the book.

"Don't call me that, that just sounds... odd," Atticus finished softly.

Twigleg got ready to turn and walk away, but then something else hit him, something Barnabas had said early about the journal.

_"I have a theory as to who left it, but I'm not going to say anything just yet."_

Twigleg then looked back over at Atticus, the man now drinking a small swig from his flask. "You left that journal," Atticus stopped, the flask still up to his lips as he just had his eyes now on Twigleg. Atticus brought the flask back down and capped it.

"... Yes..." Atticus didn't even try to hide it. "I wanted Ben to find it later when he got home from school. I had no clue you were... big."

"Why would you want Ben to- wait a minute... you know what I am?"

"Yeah, a homunculus," Atticus shrugged like it was nothing and turned to put the book back.

"How do you know that?!"

"How do you think!?" Atticus suddenly challenged growing angry right out of nowhere. "... I've been stalking Ben for years, alright! I know everything about him at this point." To prove his point, Atticus leaned against the bookshelf and started to count on his fingers as he listed things about Ben:

"His favorite color is silver, he's the dragon rider, he can't swim, he's the dragon rider, you're his best friend, and he loves you very much, he's a tad too trusting, seriously get that checked out. He knows his biological dad is still alive, and if Ben ever sees him he's going to punch him for abandoning his mom, he's the freaking dragon rider, he occasionally skips classes, and what was that last one? oh yeah,  _he's the dragon rider!_  Have I made my point yet?" Atticus asked with a rather bitter tsk of his tongue.

All of this gave Twigleg a small shudder down his spine. Actually having Atticus flat out  _admit_  that he was stalking Ben made Twigleg shudder even more, yeah, Twigleg kinda knew, but he didn't expect to actually get confirmation. Still, all this talk on Ben made Twigleg turn to look at the clock on the wall. Once he saw the time, he paused and doubled checked. That couldn't be right.

"What?" Atticus asked once he saw Twigleg's face.

Twigleg couldn't stop his bitter sarcasm from leaving his mouth at this point, "Hey, Mr. Stalker, what time does Ben normally get home?"

"Three. On the... dot..." Atticus looked at the clock with Twigleg, and silently rubbed the back of his neck once he saw the time. It was a quarter after five, Ben was beyond late, and neither of them had noticed.

* * *

To say Ben was scared was a bit of an understatement, no, he was terrified. Banging on the trunk's roof as hard as he could, Ben sniffled weakly. He could feel the tight space getting even tighter as the air became almost stifling, he felt like he was being choked. The small space of the trunk was starting to give him claustrophobia. The fact that he was being  _kidnapped_  didn't help the situation either. Ben had tried to disconnect the rear lights of the car, that was the only thing he could truly remember to do in a situation like this, but he just couldn't get to them. He didn't have his penknife on him either! Curling up with fear, Ben let out a shuttered breath.

_Why did I leave the school? If I hadn't of done that I wouldn't be in this situation!_ He angrily thought as he grabbed on this his hair.  _He said something about a mistress... what does she want with me? Why does she want to meet with me? What am I to her?_

The car slowed down, and Ben felt relief flood over him when a few seconds later, the trunk was popped open and sunlight flooded over him. Hissing out slightly as the sun stung his eyes, he only saw the same man looming over him. Then the man went to grab him, Ben acted faster. With a good thrust of his legs, he actually managed to kick the man in the face. All it did was cause the stranger to stumble back suddenly, clearly dazed and not expecting that. Ben didn't even break his nose.

The man only chuckled, "Nice one! I can say I wasn't expecting you to suddenly do that! I guess I'll have to take some more precautions," Ben tried to jump out of the trunk towards freedom, but suddenly his right sleeve was grabbed and he was pulled back towards the man when suddenly a knife was under Ben's chin. "Starting now... Walk." the man's voice left absolutely no room for arguments as he just held on to Ben's arm tighter, hurting Ben a lot really. Ben could feel the sharp tip of the knife on his skin, one move would all it would take for that knife to end up in his his breath hitched, Ben shut his eyes for a few seconds before slowly walking with this strange towards the house.

Ben looked at the house. It was a simple two-story house, it was painted a dark blue color on the outside with a white front door. Ben could see a balcony on the left side of the home, that was probably where the master bedroom. Finally, Ben tore his gaze away from the house towards this stranger walking with him.

The man was taller than Ben, by far, he had to be a foot or two taller. His skin was a sickly gray color that reminded Ben of Atticus, that wasn't a good thing, This man was wearing a simple white button-down shirt, and black jeans. He had a good amount of muscle for the look of it. Ben tore his gaze up towards the man's face. He wanted to remember his face, if he got out of here, he was going to need to remember what he looked like. His eyes were a thin almond shape. The color of his eyes was blue, but... something told Ben that wasn't right there was just something off about the color. After that, there wasn't much to the man, thin lips (that needed some serious chapstick) and a rather big nose.

"Like what you see?" The man chuckled at Ben, smirking just enough for Ben to see that his teeth had a yellowish tint.

"I've seen better," Ben spat out as he finally tore his gaze away from the stranger.

They finally got to the house and the man simply opened the door and then proceeded to push Ben inside. This caused Ben to fall on to the polished tile floor. Finally, out of the stranger's grip, Ben sat on the floor and rubbed his sore arm. "Mistress must be downstairs..." The man spoke to himself. Ben expected him to go after the woman, but it seemed like the guy was smart after all as he just stood there and took out a cellphone. Ben felt his brow furrow at the state of the phone. It was clearly a flip phone destroyed, snapped in half by the looks of it, held together by duct tape. Yet, it worked, the soft  _beep_  of the keys being hit rang rather loudly in the silent house. Ben watched as the man texted, the man had deft fingers as he was texting up a storm. He was faster than anybody Ben has ever seen. He must have heard something Ben hadn't, as he suddenly put the phone in his pocket.

Sure enough, seconds later the door to Ben's left opened. A young looking woman came out from behind the door and paused. Her face suddenly broke into a wide grin.

This woman looked... wild, that was the only way Ben could describe her as ... she was just wild looking. She couldn't be older than twenty, but her dark brown (almost black) eyes showed a completely different story. Her hair was an inky black that went way past her waist almost past her butt. It was straight, but it looked like it hadn't have been brushed in ages as Ben could clearly see knots in the hair. Her skin was a sickly yellow that made Ben wonder if she was sick, and she just had this... awful smell coming off of her, it made Ben turn away. He didn't want to look at her anymore. "It worked, good job, you aren't so useless after all!" She shooed the man away with a simple movement of her hand. She made a grab for Ben, and he was quick to give her a good shove.

" _Get away from me!"_  Ben screamed out, this woman, she frightened him in all aspects.

" _How dare you touch me!"_  She roared so loudly that Ben was sure that the walls rattled by the volume of her voice.

"I'm sorry..." Ben blinked suddenly, he didn't want to apologize! But yet, he did...

"Get up!" She sneered pointing her index finger at him. Ben dumbly did as she demanded, he didn't want to do this! So why was he following her every command?! "That's a good boy... oh.. look at you! You have the perfect body..." She cooed, her personality taking a wild flip as she suddenly grabbed his face and squished his cheeks in her hands.

_Why can't I fight her! She's right there! I could just punch her! I cant move my arms!_ Ben felt his fear get to him once again as she then got into his face. Ben could see her eyes, there was a strange malice behind her pupils, she looked almost crazed; but at the same time... she looked... happy? Ben couldn't describe it.

Ben looked over to the strange man for help, maybe he'd have some sympathy for him, right? When Ben made eye contact with the man, he only smirked before walking away towards the upstairs.

_No! No! Come back! Help!_

"I'll be back, Mistress, there is something I need to get..." The man told her at the top of the stairs.

"Just go! You aren't needed!" She snapped. She then turned back to Ben and creepily caressed his face. "Stay there, my little vessel!" She booped his nose suddenly and hurried away. She opened the door to a basement (Ben assumed) and rushed down the stairs.

_Vessel?! No! She can't do this! Why is she doing this! Why can't I move!_  Ben tried so hard to move his fingers, but they refused, everything refused to move. All he could do was blink; his heart was racing horribly at this point. It was like that one time he had sleep paralysis, only  _worse_  because this was real and not some sleep induced hallucination!

Time ticked on by; Ben only stood there hearing only the soft ticking of a clock, unable to move anything. After only a few minutes the woman came back, a vial in her hands, the liquid inside the vial was a plum-like purple.

"Open your mouth..." She ordered.

_No!_

Ben had no clue how he did it, but he somehow managed to resist, he still couldn't move his limps, but he managed to screw his mouth shut tight.

She snarled suddenly, " _Don't disobey me!"_  She roared in anger, Ben felt her words have a hold on him, that was how she was doing it! Her words! Ben tried to resist, but slowly his mouth was opening. Ben felt horror just fill him as she was getting ready to pour the liquid down his throat as he opened his mouth more, but... then a saving grace. The vial now on the ground, broken. The liquid now a purple puddle below her feet. The woman only stood there, shaking horribly, her mouth hanging open in shock and her eyes had to be the size of dinner plates, at least. Ben only heard a sickening nose, the only way he could describe it was a knife cutting up a piece of steak. Slowly the woman turned around, Ben saw it a wound on her back that was bleeding profusely, while the man now stood there, a bloody knife in his hands. This wasn't the same knife he threatened Ben with, now this knife looked...

_Is that thing made out of **bone**_?! Ben's thoughts screamed.

"A box cutter didn't kill you, let's try something else," With that, the man stabbed her dead in the chest. She let out a blood-curdling shriek, it was so loud that Ben felt his hair curl in freight at how much in... pain she seemed to be. The man took the bone knife out and then thrust it back in the same spot. Again and again, he did it, over and over. So much so that all Ben could hear was just the disgusting sound of her blood splattering on the floor, against his knife, and generally all over. Ben made the mistake of looking at her face. She was now turning grey, literally, everything about her was turning gray, her hair, a once inky black, now turning a deathly white. The only thing not gray was the blood now trickling out of her mouth as the man continued to stab her.

"Do this! Do that! You're useless! You're stupid, I'll replace you in a second!  _How's this for useless!? Celeste!? Am I stupid now!?"_  He roared with each and every stab. Suddenly, with no warning, and one final blood-curdling shriek, the woman... dissipated... just turned into dust in front of Ben. Despite the fact that she turned to dust, her blood, along with... maggots?! laid on the floor. The maggots were moving around looking for their next source of food.

Ben, despite being now traumatized for life, finally felt free. Moving his arms and legs, he looked at the man. So the man had some sympathy in him after all.

"Thank-"

Ben never finished as the man suddenly punched him square in the face, knocking him out.

* * *

Twigleg knew that Atticus might have been afraid of Barnabas. Atticus leaving with Barnabas threatened him the first time told Twigleg that, but he had no clue that Atticus was  _this_ afraid.

"I am not a shield!" Twigleg yelled to Atticus as the vampire held Twigleg between him and Barnabas. Barnabas had just returned home, and Twigleg knew by the look on his face upon seeing the vampire, that he was not happy.

"What are you doing in my home! I told you I wanted you out!" Barnabas snapped at Atticus. Barnabas tried to move around Twigleg, but Atticus made sure that Twigleg was in front of the professor no matter which way he went.

"Seriously!" Twigleg yelled to Atticus, still, the vampire didn't let up.

"I am not the enemy, Barnabas!" Atticus finally spoke to Barnabas, he still kept a tight hold on the back of Twigleg's collar though.

"Then this isn't your journal?" Barnabas questioned as he pulled the battered old journal out of his satchel.

"You gave it to him!?" Atticus hissed to Twigleg, before giving a bitter scoff, "Nevermind... yes and no, it's not my journal, but I did leave it here."

"Why?"

"For Ben!"

"Then why did you rip several pages out?! I take it those pages don't shine you in such a good light?" Barnabas challenged as he showed Atticus the place where all the missing pages were.

"Everyone just calm down, and let go of me!" Twigleg finally managed to shrug Atticus off of him and looked towards the professor. "Professor, I spent the last few hours talking to Atticus, I don't think he's all that bad."

"Huh, I get 'not all that bad' thanks..." Atticus sarcastically thanked Twigleg as he crossed his arms.

"Is that the big emergency you called me about, Twigleg?" Barnabas finally asked with a disbelieving look on his face. It would have made Twigleg feel bad if that was the reason he called Barnabas, as he knew Barnabas was preparing for a big expedition.

"No. Ben hasn't come home," Twgleg broke the news as softly as he could to Barnabas. Barnabas looked at the clock on the wall and instantly frowned.

"Well, I'll call the school real quick..." Barnabas sauntered past the two, shooting a bit of a glare Atticus's way before getting to the phone on the wall. Grabbing it, he dialed the school's number. For a few minutes, there was silence, Barnabas still shooting glances at Atticus, Atticus only crossed his arms and rolled his eyes at Barnabas and letting out soft scoffs as well. For someone older than dirt, he seemed to act a lot like a teenager.

"Yes, Hi, this is Barnabas Greenbloom, I'm calling about my son, he hasn't returned from school and I'm wondering if he's with his sister at dance practice?... Benjamin Greenbloom..." Slowly, as whoever spoke to him talked, Barnabas's face seemed to morph from indifferent to worried. That caused Atticus to straighten up almost instantly. "... Are you sure?... okay... I'll be there as soon as I can..." With that Barnabas hung up.

"What happened?" Twigleg asked his mind now filled with all sorts of anxiety. Barnabas was now making a bee-line for the front door.

"Ben just ran out of the school at lunchtime. Nobody knows where he went, I have to go to school," Barnabas hurriedly spoke. Instantly Atticus made his way towards the door. Barnabas was quick to turn, pointing at Atticus, causing the vampire to stop. "You! Are not coming. In fact, get out of my house!" Barnabas snapped at Atticus in an uncharacteristic matter.

"Like hell!" Atticus fought back. "That's my friend! I know it's not like him to just run off!"

"Your intentions are still unclear to me, vampire, but until Ben is found, safely. I don't want you near my family," With that Barnabas turned and left the house, leaving Atticus standing there. Twigleg, who had taken an interest in his fingernails, slowly walked up to Atticus. Barnabas was now gone, peeling out of the driveway at a fast rate.

"He's worried," Twigleg whispered softly. "The only time I've ever seen him drive that fast was when Guinevere broke her arm. We made it to the hospital in record time."

"You know I have nothing to do with this, right?" Atticus asked Twigleg. Twigleg made an awkward face as he stood there for a few seconds.

"I know you didn't kidnap Ben if that puts your mind at ease. You were here with me at lunch time," Twigleg softly spoke to Atticus.

"Then you know... going to school is going to be a big waste of time. Ben's gone, there is no reason to go there... " Atticus looked down at his nails for a few seconds as he seemed to be thinking.

"Maybe he went somewhere he felt safe?... but if that was the case then he should have been home by now," Twigleg let out a soft worried noise as he wrapped his arms around his chest softly.

"Look, I'm going to go. Figure this out myself, okay? Here-" Atticus pulled a pen out of his jacket pocket and snatched up a piece of paper that was laying on the dining table. He wrote down a phone number. "- If anything new pops up, or he just comes home, call me, okay?" Atticus asked as he handed Twigleg the paper.

"Okay..." Hesitantly Twigleg took the paper, Atticus gave Twigleg a nod before leaving. Getting to the door, Atticus turned and face Twigleg one last time, his red eyes looking straight into Twigleg's own red eyes.

"I'm really not the bad guy, Twiggy, I just wanted my best friend back," With that Atticus turned and left out the door. Shutting it behind him. Twigleg sat down at the dining table rather numbly. Ben was missing. No, this was Ben! Ben will come back! He always comes back!

At least, that's what Twigleg was telling himself, and was going to continue to tell himself.

For the next week and a half.

* * *

"What do you mean Ben's coming here?" Sorrel asked Lola. She had the tiny gray mouse by the tail. Lola wasn't too thrilled by that as she struggled to get back up.

"Oi! That's just what I told you! I don't know!" Lola huffed. Sorrel let out a simple 'tsk' and dropped Lola into a pile of moondew flowers ungracefully.

"Why would he come here, and now of all times. Isn't he still in... that human learning center?" Sorrel snorted softly as Lola scrambled to her feet.

"I don't know!" Lola screamed as she now started to jump up and down on the flowers in a fit. Some of the flowers were actually being crushed because of her.

"What's going on?" Firedrake yawned as he stretched out sleepily from his shared cave with Maia.

"Lola is going crazy," Sorrel simply up it as she thrust her thumb towards Lola.

" _I am not going crazy, you fur-brain!"_  Lola seethed so loudly and harshly that her fur was actually started to rise in anger. It made her look even puffier in that suit of hers.

"Lola, calm down before you hurt yourself, please," Firedrake gently nuzzled the rat with his snout, getting her to calm down just an enough for her fur to go back down. "Now, tell us what's going on?"

"I... I don't know! I was just flying along when suddenly next thing I know, I wake up from a daze here, completely backward from where I was, to tell you guys that Ben is coming!"

"But why is he coming here?!" Sorrel demanded.

" _I don't know!"_

"Why don't you ask him?" Firedrake suggested. "Wouldn't that be the more sensible thing to do?"

Lola opened her mouth before shutting it and twitching her whiskers impatiently. "Urg! I'm going to be so off-course it isn't even funny! But fine! I'll be back!" She huffed before hurrying towards her plane.

"Rats, always crazy..." Sorrel huffed before storming away to go and eat some mushrooms. While she stormed off, Firedrake watched as Lola left, he couldn't help but feel... strange. Something wasn't right, he knew that much right now. A part of him hoped that Ben was alright.

* * *

"Yeah, I have him with me... Yes... this will work... sir, I'm confident this will work. Okay, well, I'll see you in China. Buh-bye."

Ben sat in the backseat of the car as the once strange man, now known as 'Finch', hung up his somehow working flip-phone.

Ben had his arms tied to his sides, ropes tied around his knees and ankles, and a cloth shoved into his mouth, and as an extra measure, Finch put duct tape over his mouth as well. It's been a week since Finch had saved him just do kidnap him again. Needless to say, Ben wasn't having such a happy time. Finch only moved the rearview mirror so he could see Ben in the back seat. Ben narrowed his eyes at Finch.

"Oh, don't look at me like that, little dragon rider. We still have a good while to go before we reach China, might as well sit back and enjoy the time you have with me because it's going to get much worse once I hand you off to the man I've been truly working with," Finch grinned, showing his sharp fangs. Ben knew Finch reminded him of Atticus somehow. Finch only chuckled softly before sighing, "This isn't just about you, you know? It's also about your dragon, who I'm sure will be there waiting for us as well. My partner is very-" Finch paused for a second before smirking wildly, "- _Interested._  in meeting your dragon."


	6. Chapter 6

Twigleg looked out of the window. That Monday morning was dreadful the clouds dark making it feel more like night time than early morning. The rain that down poured seemed to match the dreadfulness. The thunder didn't help the mood in anyway. What also didn't help was the unnatural silence at the breakfast table as the Greenblooms just sat there.

Guinevere was picking at her breakfast she hardly ate, Vita was just staring blankly outside the sliding glass door, and Barnabas was reading his paper. Twigleg knew that Barnabas was only looking for anything on Ben in the news. He's been doing that for the past week now, but nothing ever came. Honestly Twigleg wondered if Ben would ever come home. Him running away like this just didn't make any sense. They tried the police, but those people hardly helped at all. So, here they all were.

"Huh..." Barnabas spoke up from his spot suddenly causing everyone to turn and look at him with anticipation.

"Anything on Ben?!" Guinevere breathlessly asked as she dropped her fork onto her plate and clasped her hands together in a sort of prayer.

"Well, no. Listen to this," Barnabas softly responded to his daughter. He paused to cough before reading from the paper:

On September 5th, 2003, local officers went to inspect the home of Celeste Ruthbar. The officers got an anonymous phone call about some sort of cultist activity from the home. Upon getting to the home they found the front door wide open. When they entered the home they found nobody inside. All they found was a pile of dust and an odd purple stain on the floor. Celeste Ruthbar was nowhere to be found. After searching the entirety of the home they found no sign of cultist activity. However; they did find two sets of footprints in the dust leaving everyone stumped.

Twigleg felt his eyes go wide as the professor read out loud, that name... Celeste... something about that name just seemed familiar.

Guinevere huffed at her father rather bitterly, and continued to mindlessly stab her breakfast. Twigleg leaned against the counter as he watched Guinevere. Vita seemed unmoved by the story as she just sipped her tea with a soft sigh, and gazed silently out the window.

Celeste Ruthbar. Why did that seem oddly familiar? Celeste-

Twigleg let out a loud gasp as his memories literally came shooting back to him full blast. Putting his hands to his mouth, he felt exhilarated as everything came rushing back filling in the blanks. Everyone looked at him as he then rushed to them at a fast rate.

"Twig-" Vita started. She started to get out of her seat, but Twigleg quickly grabbed her shoulders and pushed her down in his excitement as he practically jumped with joy.

"It was her! She did it! She turned me big! Her voice! Her voice!" Twigleg started moving his hands in frantic little circles. He felt his voice studder through his excitement as his eyes went wide. "Sh-she's a witch!"

"Who?" Vita questioned as she finally got to stand up from the dining table.

"Celeste Ruthbar! She's a witch! She can control people and animals with her voice! She... oh god...

she took Ben!" Twigleg gasped. Atticus had been right the whole time about the witch being after Ben. She had used Twigleg as a distraction!

"Twigleg, how do you know this?" Guinevere asked him. She looked at him like he was crazy. They all looked at him like he was crazy. He knew he deserved their gazes, but he ignored that for the moment. As he knew only one person might be able to help with this new information.

"Atticus! We need to call Atticus-" Twigleg rushed to the phone on the wall. He picked up the phone, and he took Atticus's number out of his pocket. Putting the phone between his shoulder and ear. Twigleg only got three numbers in when suddenly-

"No! No! No!" Barnabas came up to him and suddenly hung up the phone. "We are not getting him involved!"

"He knows about the witch!" Twigleg tried to reason with Barnabas. "He's the one who told me about the witch! He came here on his own will to try and help-"

" No, probably because he sent her after Ben. I do not trust Atticus! He's a vampire! I know this! You know this, we all know this!"

"He can help- no- he wants to help! I honestly think he's-" Twigleg slowed down when he saw everyone looking at him once more. All their faces ranged differently. Vita looked scared as she wrung the hem of her shirt in her hands. Barnabas looked downright mad as he scowled and looked away from Twigleg shaking his head bitterly as he did so, and Guinevere tried to look tough but.. she looked... wait.. was she... afraid of Atticus? In fact despite their emotions they all had a bit of fear in their eyes."-I honestly think he's not as evil as you think he is. He's shown no ill intentions so far."

"Twigleg, the answer is no. We can't trust him!" Barnabas actually snapped at Twigleg. This honestly made Twigleg feel angry even a little resentful towards Barnabas. They have a lead, and someone

willing to help, but he won't take it! Ben is missing and Barnabas won't put his prejudice and fear aside to help find him! Neither Vita or Guinevere spoke up probably because neither of them wanted to get into the middle of this as Twigleg was now showing anger of his own accord.

"He-" Twigleg tried once more, but Barnabas still wasn't having it.

"Twigleg, I see where you're coming from so see where I am coming from. He's a dangerous creature that feeds off of blood. What does he know that can help us with this?" Barnabas gave a shrug and seemed ready to shut it down, but Twigleg finally had enough.

"He knows more than you!" Twigleg didn't mean to sound so spiteful when he said it, but the damage was done and there was no turning back. "You might not want to hear it, but I feel like it's the truth in the matter... Barnabas you're smart, you know a lot on fabulous creatures yes, but... Atticus knows more about the ones that matter now. Could you face a witch?" Twigleg finally asked softly. There was a moment of silence between everyone now. Guinevere finally found her voice as she stepped forward and touched her father's shoulder.

"I think... we should call him," Guinevere softly spoke as she then stood next to felt touched that she was willing to put her anger for Atticus aside for this situation. "Maybe Twigleg is right? Perhaps all he wants to do is help?" Twigleg gave her a small smile, before turning back to Barnabas. Barnabas turned to Vita. for a moment they said nothing as Vita just nodded at Barnabas as is they both had a moment of telepathy.

"... Okay... okay... but I'm warning you now. One wrong move and Atticus is out I mean it." Barnabas warned them all. He then crossed his arms and nodded towards Twigleg finally giving him the permission to call Atticus. Twigleg grabbed the phone and dialed the number. It only rang once.

"Atticus Noel." Atticus answered plainly.

"Atticus... we need you over here," Twigleg responded to his greeting. Twigleg heard something shut on the other side of the line for a moment he was curious as to what it was.

"Well, it's about time," Atticus huffed "I'm on my way." Before Twigleg replied. Atticus waltzed through the front door cellphone against his ear. "So, what did you guys find?"

* * *

Ben looked outside of the car window as the world moved past them. His blue eyes lightly darted up towards the driver of the car. The man was focusing on the road ahead. Perfect. Ben then looked down at his bonds. There was a rope tied around his chest keeping his arms bound to his sides, but his hands were free. Then there was the rope around his ankles and knees. Finch had tied them pretty tight making Ben unable to wiggle free. However; Ben was quick to notice the grayish tint of the rope around his arms; the rope may have been old, but it was still sturdy enough to resist breaking that easily. Reaching his left hand up, Ben silently plucked at the rope with his fingers. Still, he felt a bit of relief when he managed to actually break the ends a little with his fingernails.

So, for the next hour and a half (the clock in the car helped him keep time) he sat there silently plucking at the rope with his fingernails. The bits of rope got under his fingernails and caused some mild discomfort. He kept going all the same. He felt the tips of his fingers start to hurt and possibly go raw. Still, a miracle happened: he managed to break the rope just far enough for it to loosen some of its slack on Ben's arms. He flickered his eyes up towards the driver. Finch was completely unaware. Silently Ben managed to slip the rope off of his arms. With his head down he carefully peeled the tape off of his mouth and spat the soaked cloth out onto the floor. With a little more stealth he untied the rope around his knees as quickly as he could.

"What are you doing back there?" Finch suddenly spoke up right as Ben freed himself. Finch must have looked in the rearview mirror. Seeing his moment Ben lunged forward with a cry. Grabbing Finch's hair Ben actually managed to slam Finch's face into the steering wheel. The horn honked loudly as Ben did it once again. The car suddenly veered off the road as Finch no longer had his hands on the wheel. He was trying desperately to grab on to Ben, but Ben wasn't having it. With another cry he slammed Finch's face into the steering wheel again causing the horn to honk once more.

"Let go!" Finch roared out in rage. Reaching up Finch finally managed to grab one of Ben's wrists. Ben cried out as Finch suddenly pulled him forward and braked the car. The tires locked up, and Ben went flying forward into the front seat awkwardly. Face down in the seat Ben felt Finch suddenly grab onto his ankle. Ben was not wanting to get caught because he knew Finch wasn't going to give him a rather 'stern talking to' for this. Ben reared his foot back and suddenly kicked Finch square in the face. Grabbing the door handle Ben opened the door and fell out of the car. feeling the harsh pavement below his hands as it no doubt scraped his palms harshly Ben scrambled up to his feet and took off towards the opposite direction. Ben didn't get too far down the road when he heard the driver's door slam shut. It was really only a matter of seconds before Finch actually managed to catch up to him. Finch grabbed Ben's right arm and pulled him back.

Ben used his arm to elbow Finch in the jaw and turn to then punch Finch in the face. Finch stumbled back a little but didn't stop as he now had Ben's hair in his hand. Yanking Ben back with one harsh pull, Ben then suddenly felt fire in his stomach as Finch proceeded to punch him in the stomach in response. Once would have probably been enough to bring Ben to his knees, but Finch punched him three times in a row. Overkill plain and simple. Taking the breath clear out of Ben's lungs and causing Ben to collapse onto his knees and dry heave. Breathing freely after a few seconds of trying to get air in his lungs Ben let out a loud and sudden sob of pain as tears formed in his eyes. Coughing and crying Ben couldn't even think properly as he laid in the middle of the road now.

"Get up!" Finch snarled as he suddenly, and harshly pulled on Ben's arm. This forced Ben to his feet, but not for long as Finch suddenly grabbed him from his middle and forced him towards the car once again. Ben just couldn't focus on fighting his attacker off. In a horrible daze Ben couldn't even bring himself to even so much as push Finch. That was until he saw himself going towards the trunk. Snapping back, Ben tried to fight Finch once again. He tried to struggle and kick but just didn't have the strength the vampire had. Finch threw him in the trunk ungracefully before Ben could do anything else, the door slammed down leaving him in the dark.

"Let's see how you like this for the next hundred miles!" Ben heard Finch snarl on the other side.

"No! Let me out!" Ben screamed loudly as he started to hit and kick the trunk in a panic, but to no avail as he soon felt the car take off again. "You can't do this!" Ben wailed loudly his vocal cords straining harshly as he went into panic mode. The trunk was closing in all around him. His chest felt like a dragon was sitting on it, and he couldn't breathe as he felt his collar dig into his neck making him feel like he was choking. "Let me out!" He shrieked in fear.

All of his cries for the rest of that night fell on deaf ears.

* * *

Atticus leaned against the table as he read the news article. "Celeste Ruthbar. It's a high probability. She wasn't exactly too keen on changing her name," Atticus huffed softly as he now leaned up on his elbows.

"How do you know her?" Barnabas asked him cautiously. Atticus looked at him for a few moment before letting out a soft sigh.

"I made a deal with her. I got my end of the deal, but not in the way I wanted. I got mad and stabbed her. She didn't die, and vowed revenge, but... judging by this article somebody got her before I could," Atticus muttered as he focused back on the article before him. "A pile of dust. Either she had a run in with another vampire, or she met her demise."

"Witches turn to dust when killed?" Vita questioned softly, Atticus sniffed a little before nodding.

"Yes and no. A new witch will- well- die like a human does, but Celeste is older than I am. The older they are the more likely they will turn to dust," Atticus explained as he looked up at the family. For a few moments. Nobody spoke till finally, Barnabas broke the icy silence gripping all of them.

"How old are you?"

"I lost count over the years, but I'm pretty close to seven hundred."

"Years?!" Guinevere yelled out in shock.

"No, days... yes. Years," Atticus sarcastically quipped at her as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Twigleg frowned as he took this moment to truly study Atticus's features.

Atticus was just about as tall as he was close to 6"6 if that. His hair a deep auburn tied off in a ponytail it contrasted against his pale gray skin. His nose was a normal size, and despite his rather old age he didn't have a single wrinkle on his face. Though his eyes showed that he was way older than what he seemed. He didn't have his contacts in showing his red eyes. He also had high cheek bones. All in all he was kinda handsome. That was Twigleg's own opinion though.

"Earth to Twigleg if you are done staring at me," Atticus waved his hand in front of Twgleg's face causing Twigleg to snap back.

"Yes?" Twigleg blinked as he tugged on his shirt sleeve in embarrassment.

"As I was saying. We need to figure out where this house is. Ben might not be there, but I'm sure there are clues as to where he could be," Atticus repeated to Twigleg. Atticus then looked back down at the newspaper in his hands before looking downwards from the article. He then let out a bitter huff. "I have some friends who might be able to help us track this house down. Until then-" Atticus paused, picking up on something that they were not. Twigleg listened as hard as he could the most he could hear was some sort of buzzing sound. In just a few quick struts Atticus walked over to the sliding glass door and opened it. The buzzing sound became louder. This caused the others to all crowd around the open door. The cool breeze hitting all of their faces as they peered outside looking for the odd noise. Twigleg noticed two yellow dots off in the morning sky they were getting closer and closer to them.

"Is that..." Vita muttered softly before gasping out suddenly, "It's Lola!"

Twigleg watched as the lights got closer and showed no signs of stopping anytime soon. when the lights got even closer and seemed to be heading in Atticus's direction. Twigleg felt frozen for a

moment. Atticus wasn't moving, and that plane was going to hit him...

"Lola-nyeh!?" Atticus started to question but was cut off by Twigleg suddenly launching forward and pushing Atticus down. It amazed Twigleg how easily he was able to actually move Atticus this time around. Mainly because the vampire's guard was down. This caused the two of them to fall to the ground. Twigleg stretched his arms out to break his fall while Atticus fell below him. "Well..." Atticus muttered softly; however, he didn't have much longer to think about their awkward position as Lola came swooping in at a fast rate right where Atticus was just standing.

Twigleg turned his head to watch as Lola skidded to a halt on the dining table. Her plane missed most of the plates and cups except for the very last cup that was simply tapped by the nose of the plane. but didn't tip over, thankfully.

"Twigleg?" Looking back down at Atticus all Twigleg did was just stare at him for a few seconds before Atticus suddenly gave him a sudden spin chilling hiss showing all four of his vampiric teeth. This was clearly a defense mechanism, and it worked. Because within seconds Twigleg scrambled off of Atticus, terrified of the idea of being bitten by those sharp fangs.

"Lola! What are you doing here?" Guinevere questioned as she (and the other Greenblooms) crowded around the small toy plane. Twigleg got up and sauntered over to the plane. Twigleg watched as Lola had to kick herself out of the cockpit. Lola's little whiskers twitched wildly as she seemed nervous about something.

"Lola-" Barnabas started.

"Ohhhh, my... that's a rat!" Atticus suddenly yelled out as he stood up. Much to Twigleg's (and everyone's surprise) Atticus suddenly backed away to the nearest wall. "Shoo! Get!" He waved his hands at Lola trying to get her run off.

Lola took one look at him, and let out the shrillest scream anyone had ever heard from her. "Get away!" She squealed with fear before running to Guinevere for safety.

"It talks?!" Atticus's shrill voice caused all of them to just look at him in bewilderment. Guinevere watched as Lola ran up her arm onto her shoulder before shivering at the sight of Atticus. "Since when do rats talk!?" Atticus actually screamed in fear. This caused Lola to suddenly scream at him once more, causing Atticus to scream. Now, these two were just in a thing that nobody knew how to get them out of. It was rather baffling to see Atticus, this old as dirt vampire, was now currently screaming in fear at something as small as a rat. Then again the rat was screaming back.

"Lo-Lola! It's okay-" Twigleg tried his hardest to get her to calm down, but she wasn't having it.

"No! Get him away from me! I know what he is!" She wailed before climbing on top Guinevere's head for safety.

"Lola, how do you know this?" Guinevere asked her softly before reaching up and grabbing Lola. Placing Lola in her palm. Guinevere watched as Lola shivered before darting back up her arm so she was sheltered by Guinevere's long hair at least.

"Oh, my kind know exactly what his kind is. He is no secret to us or any creature for that matter! Vampires are always noticeable on sight. Only humans won't notice them."

"Well then-" Barnabas spoke softly before walking over to Lola and gently picked her up. "-just ignore him for the moment."

Twigleg walked over to Atticus, who was currently having a meltdown at this point. Pulling on his ponytail so harshly that he was almost pulling strands of hair out. "Rats talk... rats talk...why didn't you tell me rats talk!?" Atticus demanded loudly as he grabbed Twigleg by the shoulders and gave him a violent shake.

"I-I-I didn't know you were afraid of rats!" Twigleg yelled back with each shake. At this point Lola was back to screaming. Guinevere and Barnabas were talking over one another trying to get the rat to calm herself, and Vita was getting a growing headache.

"Everyone just calm down!" Vita demanded to prove her point she slammed her hand on the table causing everyone to look at her. "My son is missing, and I'd like to focus on that than Atticus's fear of rats!" She yelled out. Everyone went dead quiet before finally focusing back on Lola who was hiding in Barnabas's hair.

"Ben is missing?" Lola questioned finally as she popped out a bit more. "You! What did you do to him!" She demanded to Atticus now growing quite brave.

"Me? I'm trying to help!" Atticus spat back at the rat. Lola gave a bit of a hiss to Atticus causing him to back up towards the wall.

"Lola, forget about Atticus for a moment, please. Why are you here?" Twigleg asked her as he reached his hands out to grab her.

"Well, I-... wait... Humblecus?! Is that you?" Lola shockingly spoke. A gasp leaving her mouth as she sniffed Twigleg to make sure it was truly him.

"It's me," Twigleg gave her a bit of a smile as he held her in his hands. She was so small and almost delicate as he cupped her in his hands. With his index finger he stroked her soft fur. Lola's whiskers gave a bit of a humorous twitch before she went back to her story.

"I was doing my normal flight when suddenly I blacked out. Next thing I know I'm in the Rim saying Ben was coming soon! I had to come back here to talk to Ben myself." Lola gave Atticus a bit of a glare before turning back to the then faced Atticus her back arched, but it didn't seem to phase the vampire as Atticus just put his hand to his mouth.

"... Oh no..." Atticus muttered suddenly; causing everyone to look at him. "We...we're too late..." Atticus slowly plopped down at the nearest chair, and placing his face in his hands he just let out a sorrowful and muffled "We're too late..."

* * *

Ben had no idea that he had passed out (or fainted) in the trunk until sunlight suddenly shown in his eyes. Ben let out a low hiss of pain. His stomach had a dull ache to it making whenever he moved highly uncomfortable.

"Get up!" Finch snarled before he suddenly grabbed Ben's upper arm allowing Ben to get up and out of the trunk. Unable to use his legs at the moment. Ben fell to the ground with a soft groan, despite being face down on the concrete Ben was pretty happy about finally being out of the trunk. Breathing some fresh-air he took in a deep breath. It felt wonderful until Finch picked him back up and slammed him against the trunk, knife against Ben's neck. "Now, listen up Dragon Rider! I'm being nice here in thinking of you for a second. I can't have you half-dead, so I'm going to go ahead and take you to get some food. You aren't to cause any suspicions with the other customers. Got it?" Finch growled as he made sure to put the end of the blade against Ben's throat.

Ben hated to admit it, but he was in fact starving. Finch 'gave' him some bread and water before. Mainly by undoing the tape around Ben's mouth and shoving said bread and water into his mouth and taping it back up forcing Ben to chew and swallow the food. So some actual food without having his mouth taped back up sounded almost nice. As an extra point, his stomach gave a low gurgle asking for more food.

"Okay..." Ben agreed finally.

"Good," With one quick movement Finch backed off, bringing the knife down before hiding it in his pocket. "Now, Get in the car." Ben looked at the trunk wondering if that's what Finch meant, but Finch quickly pushed him towards the front seat. "I can't have you leaping out of the trunk in front of people. That'd be stupid. You are to sit in the front seat. If you attack me again I'll make sure you get more than a few punches to your ribs. Now move." Finch ordered as he pushed Ben once more almost causing Ben to fall over. Thankfully Ben managed to catch himself before walking over towards the car.

Ben almost wanted to run, but Finch was right behind him the whole time rendering that idea completely useless. So, against his better judgment, Ben opened the front seat and got inside the car. Finch never once took his eyes off of Ben as he crossed over onto the driver's side and shut the door beside him. "Buckle up." He ordered Ben to do. Ben glared at him unmoving. He really didn't want to do anything this guy told him to do. Finch let out a bitter sigh when he realized what Ben was doing.

"Put the seatbelt on." Finch's voice now threatening and deep showing that he meant business.

Ben slowly reached over towards the seatbelt and clicked it into place. At that moment Finch suddenly grabbed Ben's exposed wrist. "Hey!-Stop!" Ben practically shrieked as he fought with Finch. Ben tried to jerk his arm back, but Finch had a tight grip on it. Ben used his other arm to try and get Finch's hand off but then suddenly Finch pulled out handcuffs from his pocket. He slapped one bracelet on Ben's wrist and the other bracelet on the handle above Ben's head by the window. Making it really awkward for Ben because Finch had cuffed his right hand. "You ass!" Ben seethed loudly as he tried to fight with the cuff. His right arm now up in the air like he was reaching for the bar.

"I can't have you trying to jump out of the car now, can I?" Finch hummed softly as he finally turned the engine over and took off down the road.

"I hate you so much!" Ben spat in response as he continued to fight and struggle against the handcuff. He wanted nothing more than to break the plastic bar down, but it wasn't budging.

"I really don't care," Finch coolly replied as he kept on driving. Ben soon realized just why Finch chose his right arm for this as Ben then tried to reach over with his left arm but he couldn't move far enough to do what he wanted. Instantly he started letting out strings of curses every curse word he knew he was throwing at the blonde male with intense passionate hate. Finally, Ben stopped only because he had to breath. With his face now red with anger Ben took in several deep breaths.

"Wow, you'd put a sailor to shame with that mouth," Finch chuckled deeply as he looked at Ben out of the corner of his eyes. He then smirked showing his sharp fangs to Ben. Ben wanted so badly to kick his teeth in, but he couldn't. Not yet anyway. Looking out the window for a few moments. Ben watched the landscape for almost a hour in complete silence. It calmed him down greatly.

"How did you become a vampire?" Ben finally asked almost out of the blue. Even he couldn't believe he asked it.

"What?" Finch asked him, Ben noticed that Finch tightened in his grip on the steering wheel his black gloves squeaking as he did so. His voice was curious, but also threatening as well.

"How did you become a vampire? Surely you didn't just wake up one day and became one. There had to be a process to it," Ben gave a weak shrug in response. He didn't understand just why Finch was getting rather worked up about this.

"Shut... up... I know what you're doing," Finch snarled he brought his lip up in a bitter sneer showing his fangs once again.

"I'm just asking a question-"

"You're trying to manipulate me!"

"By asking a question?!"

"I know you. I know all about you and your... kindness. So to speak! You manipulate people because of how kind you are! You get close and get them to turn to help you out. Well, not me! So, shut up!" He ordered once more. Actually screaming at Ben in the process. Ben sat there in shock Finch might have been crazier than he realized. He seemed to be talking about Twigleg in some sense. Which made Ben wonder just a little bit more about this fellow. Did he not want to get close to Ben because he was afraid of being 'manipulated'? Or was there something more?

Looking down Ben just then noticed a backpack sitting by his feet. He couldn't reach it because someone had tied his right hand in an awkward position at the moment, but he was curious. What was in it? Weapons?

Ben had tried to reach over to the bag on the floor, but still to no avail; as figured. So, now feeling defeated. Ben backed down and just watched out the window.

Ben felt a flush of relief hit him when the forest started to fade, and they were back on the highway. being with other cars. Oh, it was such a relief to see other people. He tried to stealthily draw attention to himself when they were window to window with another driver. The other driver did look in his direction. Ben tried to mouth the word 'Help' over and over, and the driver just laughed and went back to focusing on the road. Ben frowned deeply in response to this and rested his head against the window in defeat. That wasn't going to work it seemed.

Watching as the highway was behind them now Ben perked up when he saw a town name on a sign. looking at the sign that passed them Ben licked his lips nervously. They were closer to Liverpool than he realized with Bootle being the next city up. Seeing the many buildings Ben felt his stomach growl suddenly reminding him that he was hungry, starving really. Putting his hand to his stomach. Ben cringed as a dull ache hit him. Reminding him of what Finch did earlier on.

Taking a deep breath Ben watched as Finch suddenly pulled into a parking lot where a familiar fast food chain was sitting. Glancing at the clock Ben swallowed it was just becoming lunchtime meaning the place might be slightly busy. As if he read Ben's mind Finch reached forward and grabbed Ben by his collar and suddenly pulled him close so they were face to face. It was still rather awkward with Ben's right arm being above his head still, they made it work.

"Now, I'm going to get your food. I'll be back, and I'll be watching you..." With that Finch let go of Ben and got out of the car, leaving him sitting there. Still, Finch did something rather stupid he left the car running. Ben watched as Finch vanished inside the building before rolling down the window. The fresh air was a tad welcoming before he focused on anything he could use to get out of this mess. For a few seconds all he could feel was the breeze, and smell the fast food in the distance that made his stomach rumble loudly. There was nothing within his grasp that he could use to pry this bar off; hell, he couldn't even reach the backpack on the floor at his feet.

"-I know Tammy! I know!" A woman came yelling as she strutted across the parking lot her ear against her cellphone. She was digging through her purse like she was looking for something, but she just wasn't finding it. "-I know I had it, Tammy!" She suddenly yelled throwing her arms up and stomping her foot in anger. Slowly the wheels in Ben's head started to click.

"Ma'am! Ma'am!" Ben yelled out to her. This worked, the woman turned around sharply to look at him. She quickly looked around to be sure it was him that actually yelled at her. "Yes you! Please hurry!" Ben urged her he turned to make sure Finch hadn't come out yet. When she cautiously approached him. Ben only looked her a for a few seconds before swallowing hard. "I need to use your phone, please..." She gave Ben a bit of a look before noting the fact his arm was hanging up. Ben could see the look on her face, she was contemplating whether or not to give him her phone till finally, she pressed it into his palm. Flipping the phone open, Ben only dialed three simple numbers: 999 it only rang once before someone answered.

"Emergency services? Police, fire or ambulance?"

"I... need help... I've been kidnapped..." Ben finally got to speak as he started to feel tears pour into the corners of his eyes. He knew he didn't have long, but he spoke all he knew. Once he gave the woman her phone back she just gave him a confused look.

"Do you-"

"Go!" He whispered to her hurriedly as Finch was coming out of the building with a paper bag in his hands. "I don't want you getting hurt, just go, thank you..." Ben whispered as he gave her phone back to her.

The woman quickly turned and hurried off towards her car making sure to keep her head down. Thankfully it seemed Finch didn't notice as he came back into the car and practically threw the bag of food at Ben. "Eat. it's the only thing you're being given." Finch huffed as he put the keys in the ignition, and turned the engine over. Ben really didn't need to be told twice. Grabbing the burger he dug into it without a care in the world, there could be needles in the food and he'd still eat it. Still, as he ate he looked Finch. Finch only looked at him with confusion Ben only gave him a smile before taking another bite.

* * *

"What do you mean you're too late?" Guinevere finally asked Atticus as he now laid haphazardly on the couch. He refused to speak for the last few hours, and it was driving everyone insane. They were all watching him even Lola seemed curious about his behavior.

"..." Atticus's lip twitched before he let out a soft sigh. "The Witch. Her goal was probably to inhabit a new body that was stable enough to hold her soul. If she's already on her way to where Firedrake is, then she got that body. She got Ben's body."

"That doesn't sound too bad..." Vita stood next to Guinevere. Twigleg sat on the chair with Lola in his hand as they both stared at the vampire.

"In order to inhabit the body, you have to get rid of its soul first. In short..."

Guinevere let out a sudden gasp as it hit her. Her hands flew to her mouth in shock as she had a horrified expression her face. Barnabas's mouth dropped at the news and Vita's turned misty-eyed.

"No! She couldn't have!" Twigleg yelled suddenly. "Maybe something else happened! You read the paper like the rest of us! She turned to dust!" He didn't want to believe a word Atticus had just said. It couldn't be possible it just couldn't!

"I'm sorry, but that's the case! Maybe it was her old body that turned to dust! it's possible as far as I know-" Atticus started to yell in anger, but suddenly stopped when the phone on the wall rang. For a few seconds, nobody moved to grab the phone. Nobody wanted to. Till finally, Barnabas moved and grabbed it.

There were a few moments of silence before Atticus happened to glance up at Barnabas. Barnabas's face was going through a ton of emotions in the span of seconds. Finally, Barnabas suddenly became excited his eyes going wide and his mouth dropping open. "Yes! We'll be there!" Barnabas yelled out in sudden happiness before hanging up the phone. "Ben's alive!" He happily yelled.

"He is!?" Twigleg gasped out happily. Guinevere's sad face broke out into a grin as she was now smiling, and crying tears of pure happiness. Atticus sat up confused.

"Wait… wait. He's alive? What happened?" Atticus asked putting a hand up to stop Barnabas from rushing out the door with the rest of the family. He cringed as Guinevere put Lola in her coat pocket.

"That was a police officer in Liverpool, I don't know the whole story, but somehow Ben managed to get to them, He's at the station now! We have to go!" Barnabas urged. Instantly everyone jumped to the door. Atticus grabbed Twigleg quickly.

"Ride with me, I need to talk to you," Atticus whispered before rushing past Twigleg, and going outside. "I'm blocking you giving me a moment!" He yelled to Barnabas as he jogged to his car. For a moment it seemed Twigleg wasn't going to follow him, but in the end, Twigleg patted Barnabas's shoulder and jogged down the driveway. Getting into the passenger's side. Twigleg shut the door and put on his seatbelt. Atticus backed the car up, allowing Barnabas to back out of the driveway, soon the two cars were going down the street.

"So, what did you want to talk to me about?" Twigleg asked Atticus. Atticus pulled out a carton of smokes and silently lit one up. Twigleg scrunched his nose at that. The smell of cigarette smoke was so disgusting he had to roll the window down. Atticus then pulled out some sunglasses and put them on his face before taking a long drag of his cancer stick.

"We need to talk about you being this size still," Atticus responded as he blew some smoke out the window.

"What? Ben's alive, and you want to talk about my size?"

"One: Phrasing. Two: We really do need to talk about this, Twigleg. You can't stay big forever," Atticus broke it to him gently.

"Well, how am I supposed to get smaller?! It's not like I asked to be human-sized you know!" Twigleg huffed in exasperation as he threw up his arms.

"I have some contacts. I'll give them a call later, and maybe they might be able to help us find Celeste's home. She most definitely has the cure." Twigleg watched as Atticus brought the death stick back to his dead lips once again, and inhaled the dangerous smoke.

"You shouldn't smoke. It's bad for your health," Twigleg scrunched his nose up. Atticus only chuckled softly puffs of smoke leaving his mouth as he did so.

"Oh, Twiggy-" Atticus paused to shake his head before continuing, "-I'm almost a thousand years old. I don't think my health is really an issue anymore."

Twigleg didn't respond right away, he didn't have much to say about it truly. Looking out the window Twigleg hoped Ben was okay now that he was officially safe with police officers. This whole week was just a wild ride, now, it was time for it to be over, thankfully.

* * *

Ben wrapped the itchy hospital blanket around his shoulders tighter. Who knew interrogation rooms were so cold? Then again, he was soaked to the bone at the moment. His black hair clinging to his head, while his dirty clothes dripped around him making a pool of water around the chair he sat in. He was clammy and paler than before. He could see himself in the reverse mirror just behind the officer. Ben knew he looked like a mess. Both of his lips were busted. A bit of blood had ran down to his chin and dried up, and his left eye (that was healing before) now black once again. He couldn't see out of his left eye either, his right eye had a popped blood vessel so his blue eye color stuck out greatly against the dark red that covered almost the entirety of his right eye. He had a bruise on the right side of his face that started below his cheek and ended at the crown of his forehead. It had a dark pinkish tint to it that was getting darker with each hour. The most disturbing part of the whole thing to him was the faint outline of fingerprints around his neck.

"Benjamin…" The Irish officer softly spoke to him. Snapping Ben back to reality. Focusing back on the officer, Ben dumbly blinked. "I need the story now, if we are to catch the man that did this to you…"

Ben looked back to the mirror. Everything still fresh in his mind.

_Ben had polished off his burger in record time. Throwing the wrapper down into the bag he gave a bit of a happy sigh to finally get some food into his stomach. Finch was still driving along like everything was normal. Ben hoped that the police took his call seriously, and was doing something soon._

_"You know, thinking about_ somethings _…" Finch hummed mainly to himself, but it was just loud enough for Ben to hear. Ben looked over at the vampire curiously. "... He didn't deserve it…" Finch spoke to himself. He was seriously having a conversation with himself right now. " Nobody deserves that."_

_"... Finch?" Ben asked softly._

_"Don't talk to me…" Finch huffed as he clutched the steering wheel tighter. His muscles straining through his shirt as he started weave a little in and out of lanes. "I just wanted to help him. That's all."_

_Ben swallowed hard as Finch was now showing signs of going a little cuckoo in the head. He started to shake his head and mumble more and more._

_"That's why I took her ticket…" Finch grumbled to himself as he shut his eyes tight. Ben narrowed his own eyes at this information. "Took her ticket?- yes-"_

_"Finch?" Ben spoke up once more as Finch was weaving a bit more horribly now. He almost slammed his car into another car, but quickly managed to straighten himself out._

_"I said don't talk to me!" Finch snarled gnashing his fangs at Ben in defense. Ben started to feel really unnerved by this sudden change in behavior. At first, Finch was calm and collected, but now he's… really going off of the deep end. Finch started to breath heavier as he put one hand to his head. Ben looked behind at the other cars, no cops just yet. "I left the keys in the car on purpose- you did what?!-" That was when he suddenly weaved into the next lane on the right. He was dangerously close to the next car, so close in fact that when he hit the gas Ben's reflexes kicked in._

_"Finch!" Ben screamed out. Pointing forward towards the car that they were about to ram. Finch hit the brake slowing down enough to back off of the car. Finch then turned violent in a heartbeat. He gave Ben a sudden punch to the face, damaging his already black eye. This caused an eruption of pain for Ben. Almost screaming out in pain, Ben clutched onto his eye._

_"What part of don't talk to me aren't you getting?!" Finch demanded as he suddenly punched again, and again, and again. Bruising Ben's shoulder, blacking his eye even more, and even busting his lower lip. Ben cried out_ , _and tried to huddle against the door in fear. His one arm out in a pitiful attempt to defend himself from the onslaught. In a huff, Finch stopped hitting Ben, finally, and went back to talking to himself. His eyes then glazed over before he looked at Ben. Finch's red eyes now dull in color as he just looked at Ben. Ben only whimpered_ , _and tried to stay away from him. Hell, at this point Ben hoped they crashed. It wasn't until about ten seconds of awkward staring did Ben realize… Finch still wasn't watching the road._

_"... He's hungry…" Was all Finch said before finally looking at the road. Finch blinked_ , _and seemed to come back into reality. Ben felt his heart rate increase as he tried the door handle, of_ course _the damn child lock was on. Finch pulled off of the highway and parked the car on the side of the road._

_"... Get away from me…" Ben whispered softly as Finch looked at him. His red eyes now showing a great deal of hunger to them. Ben never felt more afraid of Finch. His heart racing even faster now than it ever had. More than when he tried to fight Finch off earlier that licked his own lips_ hungerly _his tongue grazing over his sharp fangs, as he looked at Ben the same way Ben looked at that burger from a few moments ago. He then put the car in park._

_"I was told that I had to bring you back alive… I'm sure if I do this right you won't die... " Finch muttered softly. "I can hear your heartbeat-"_

_That was when Finch lunged at Ben. Ben kicked Finch in the face again. This actually caused the vampire to hit his head on the roof of the car. "Get away from me!" Ben shrieked loudly as he gave Finch another kick. Ben had no desire to be anybody's next meal. Finch gave a sudden snarl as grabbed Ben's leg and forced it down stopping Ben's only defense against him now. Finch struck Ben on the right side of his face so hard that Ben saw stars dance. Ben wasn't going to give up so easily, not today. Using his free hand, he punched Finch's nose, hey if_ i _works for sharks, then surely it'll work for a vampire. Sure enough, Finch cried out_ , _and backed up a little. The most it did for Ben was make Finch even_ more angry _. Finch was now bleeding and showing all four of his vampire teeth. He looked downright terrifying at this point. Ben felt his blood run cold was Finch then reached forward, and wrapped his hands around Ben's neck._

_That was when the panic really started to set in for Ben. Feeling his windpipe being squeezed and pressed downward made Ben struggle and try to fight Finch off of him. Ben gagged out loudly, he was started to see spots as Finch strangled him with all of his might. Ben tried hit him he tried to break the roof bar, but nothing happened because of one simple factor; Finch was way stronger than Ben. Ben was pretty sure in one thing as he started to get tunnel vision. The blackness seeping around the corners of his eyes, and slowly moving along until he could only make out Finch in front of him, but even Finch was getting harder to a miracle happened though it sounded like he was underwater, Ben heard a police siren. Finch must have heard it as well because he quickly got off of Ben._

_Coughing a low wheezing cough, Ben tried to just catch his breath as Finch was now in the driver seat, and taking off at_ at _fast rate. The cop came on the loudspeaker, demanding they pull over, Finch stepped on the gas. They were going down the road weaving around other cars. The cop car wasn't giving up. Ben tugged_ , _and pulled weakly on the handcuff. Why won't the damn handle just break?! Having enough Ben started to put all of his weight on the handle to the point of lifting himself up a little. It seemed like the piece of plastic wasn't going to give out. Until, well, it finally did! There was a loud snap, and the handle suddenly broke it two. This caused Ben to suddenly go sliding down to the floor of the car. His right arm numb from being held up for so long, only the handcuff stayed attached to his wrist as the car handle was above him._

_Groaning loudly Ben tried to push himself up, but he just couldn't. His head was spinning, and he just felt horribly weak. So, he did the next best thing. With his left hand, he opened the bag, hoping for some sort of weapon. Finch turned sharply causing Ben to smash his head against the wall of the car horribly. Groaning, Ben looked through the bag. Feeling something soft against his fingers he only saw a black fabric of some sort. Digging deeper into the bag; he felt horrible frustration when there was nothing else of use, this was all just clothes! Fine! Forcing himself up to the passenger's seat once more. Ben wasn't going to be the victim any longer!_

_"Finch!" Ben yelled_ out gaining _the vampire's attention. Ben took that moment to swing his handcuffed arm (against his arm's own wishes at the moment) The metal handcuff clonked against's Finch's skull; stunning the male. Ben then brought both his legs up kicked Finch's head against the window. Breaking the window in the process. Ben saw there were now three cop cars chasing Finch, if he were going to escape, now would be the moment! He didn't care about getting scratched up, however; it seemed neither did Finch._

_"Have fun…" Finch growled before suddenly opening the driver's side door and actually jumping out. Ben watched as the vampire rolled out of the car into the grass. Two cop cars went chasing after him as he ran down the grassy hills. Ben then let out a terrifying shriek as the car started to weave on_ it's _own with no driver. Ben couldn't get himself in the driver's seat in time. The car veered off of the road into a pond. The windshield broke due to the high speed he crashed into the pond. The open window and broken windshield filled the car quickly with water, Ben let out several confused noises as he grabbed the bag off of the floor, why he grabbed it he had no possible clue. Still, against the pain in his body, and the horribly cold dirty pond water, Ben swam out of the water through the busted windshield._

_Several officers were waiting at the edge of the pond, some pointed guns at him, but he didn't care. Getting to the surface, he let out a low wheezing cough as he finally sat up on the muddy bank._

_"Hands to your head!" One officer demanded Ben let a low groan escape his lips before lifting his sore arm up above his head._

_"Name?"_

_"Benjamin Greenbloom, I made the call… Please… I'm so tired…"_

After that, Ben had a quick on-site medical examination and here he was. Facing the police officer who had a gun pointed at him only forty-five minutes ago.

"Do you have any idea where your kidnapper went?" The man asked Ben in a softer voice.

"No…" Ben answered honestly; he had a feeling that Finch was probably ditching the China plan at the moment.

"You said his name was Finch? Did he have a last name?"

"No. Finch was clearly a fake name."

"Why would he want to kidnap you?"

Ben paused at that question. He couldn't just say 'Oh you know, because I'm the dragon rider, and he was going to give me to his mysterious boss in China.' So with a bit of a lie, he responded with "I think he was a... Uh… trafficker so to speak, he never made it too clear."

The officer huffed loudly as he looked at the papers below him. Sorting through them, he then looked at Ben. "What caused him to go ballistic on you like that?"

Ben frowned even deeper at that question, 'Because he was hungry, and I was his next meal' was also not a good answer in this situation. "I… don't know, he showed violence to me before, the bruise on my stomach is a perfect example of that, but this time around… he just went almost insane started beating the ever-loving tar out of me…" Ben huffed softly as tears started to form in his eyes. "I just want to go home… please…" Ben whimpered softly to the officer. Ben couldn't hold his emotions back any longer as he was now sobbing freely. He just wanted to go home, he didn't want to answer any more questions.

"It's going to be a while before your family gets here. How about I get you something warm to drink and some food in your stomach. You look half-starved," With that, the officer got up, and just left. Leaving Ben alone in the interrogation room. Ben shivered violently as he sat there. The thin ambulance blanket wasn't helping much anymore it was probably as soaked as he was. He really just wanted to go home.

* * *

The police station was jammed pack with people, officers, freshly arrested criminals, and then some. Atticus didn't make it five steps when somebody called out.

"Atticus Noel, pleasure seeing you here…" A woman chuckled, Atticus turned to see a woman walking down a line with other women handcuffed together. All of them wearing rather revealing clothing and stockings as they walked, their heels clicking in sync.

"Miranda… what a surprise…" Atticus muttered as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Come to bail me out?" Miranda asked as the group was now being herded by a policewoman.

"No, I'm just here to pick up a friend…" He continued to mutter as he tried to not look at the judgemental faces of the Greenblooms. He even tried to block their faces out by shielding the side of his face with his hand, it wasn't working.

"Ah, shame. See you next weekend, sugar," Miranda walked on, but of course, his embarrassment just couldn't end there.

"Bye Atti~" The woman behind Miranda hummed softly.

"Bye, Noel," The next woman responded.

"Bye, Sweetheart," The final one cooed, and took it one step farther than the rest by bringing her hand up to gently stroke Atticus's jaw.

"No touching." Huffed the policewoman as the conga line of women were now gone and away from them.

"So-" Started Guinevere with a grin on her face Atticus shut it down.

"I am a man who has needs." Atticus put it plainly as he straightened out his jacket.

"Yeah, but don't they realize that you're dead when they touch your cold-"

"Guinevere enough!" Vita gasped loudly as she gave Guinevere a light smack on the arm. Atticus was sure if he could turn red he would be as red as a brick wall at this point. Adjusting his jacket for the tenth time. He simply gave a bit of a cough in response to it all, and just walked forward like nothing had happened.

"I… don't get it…" Twigleg finally admitted to the others as they walked along with Atticus in the front.

"It's something you don't need to get Twigleg- Mother of God!" Barnabas suddenly yelled causing Atticus to stop and cringe in pain at the name of God, and look at him. Following where Barnabas was looking Atticus just felt his dead heart drop into his stomach. Ben was coming out of a room. There was a police officer right behind him, but Atticus showed no interest as he looked at Ben.

Ben was battered and bruised, he also looked like he just got done swimming in a lake. He looked horrible. However; Ben suddenly broke into a grin, and went running to them.

"Ben!" Guinevere yelled loudly. The two of them met halfway into a big hug. It was short lived as Ben suddenly let out several loud yelps of pain. Guinevere was quick to let go. Everyone ran over to Ben, however; it wasn't until Atticus got close enough did Ben back away startled.

"What?" Atticus questioned softly. Twigleg walked over to Ben and gently placed a hand on his shoulder. Ben seemed unnerved by touch as he actually shrugged Twigleg's hand off, and even seemed to huddle away from the crowd. Ben looked insanely nervous. Finally, he just brought his hands up to wipe away some tears that were forming.

"I… I just want to go home…" Ben finally whimpered out as he let out a low cry.

* * *

"Ow!" Ben cried out before flinching harshly as Barnabas softly dabbed a damp cloth against Ben's black eye. Ben was now dry and in his pajamas. The backpack was given back to him, he really had no use for it, but he was curious so he kept it in his room for now.

"Hold still, Benjamin…" Barnabas sighed deeply as he put the cloth down on the table. It's only been a few hours since they returned home, Barnabas decided it'd be best if everyone gave Ben some space at the moment. So right now it was only him and Ben in the kitchen. Twigleg and Atticus were in the dining room, and Guinevere and Vita were both in the living room.

"What is he doing here?" Ben asked finally as he spied at Atticus through the kitchen door.

"Well, I didn't agree to it… but everyone else figured we could call him for help," Barnabas explained in a hushed voice as he gently brought the cloth back up and focused on the handprints around Ben's neck. Ben felt the wet cloth rub against his bruised skin, it felt a little nice. Nicer than the cloth on his eye.

"Dad…" Ben whimpered softly as he looked back at Atticus. Lola was now on top of Twigleg's head giving the vampire a piece of her mind. Atticus noticed Ben looking at him, and smiled. For once Atticus showed Ben his fangs. This caused a shiver to run down Ben's spine as he gasped out. "... The man who kidnapped me was a vampire…" Ben finally told Barnabas. Barnabas stopped rubbing Ben's neck with the cloth and turned to see Atticus. Atticus had taken notice of the two of them staring at him and gave them both a bit of a wave.

"You don't think…?" Barnabas whispered back to Ben as he faced his son.

"I don't know… I don't know! He said he had to bring me to his boss in China, so it might not have been-" Ben sobbed out softly as he finally looked down at his wrist. His wrist was red and bloody from where the handcuff had cut into his wrist. "-He was taking me to the rim, I know it."

"Atticus knows where the rim is…" Barnabas muttered out loud causing Ben to look up at his father. Ben's eyes were red and puffy from the tears that were still spilling out of his eyes. "He didn't say it, but It's obvious he knows."

"Dad?"

Barnabas wasn't listening as he glared at Atticus now. Wringing the towel in his hands from anger, Barnabas started to grind his teeth. "Benjamin?"

"Yes?"

"I think we were both played like fiddles this last week and a half…"


End file.
